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“Making Their Mark: Stories Through Signatures” features original signatures from the
National Archives extensive nationwide holdings. They illustrate the many ways
people have placed their signature on history, from developing a signature style to
signing groundbreaking policy into law. Each story in the exhibit illustrates the many
ways people have left their mark on history or popular culture.
Signatures illustrate the power of original records and the important role the National
Archives has in preserving our nation's history. Nearly half of the items in the exhibit
come from our presidential libraries and our field offices nationwide.
From John Hancock’s distinct swirling signature, to legislation allowing the auto pen to
authenticate a law or document, technology has changed how we sign.
President Clinton signed the Electronic Signatures and Global and National
Commerce Act on June 30, 2000 and he used digital signature technology to do so.
Presidents often use several pens to sign important legislation. And these fifty pens
were used by President Kennedy or President Johnson to sign bills passed between
1961 and 1965. After the New York Giants won their fourth
Super Bowl in 2012, the team and coaches presented this autographed football to President
Obama. The LA Lakers signed this shirt and presented
it to President Reagan in 1988 and it is signed by team members including Magic Johnson
and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Michael Jackson, “The King of Pop,” patented
this shoe so he could perform his gravity-defying dance moves on stage.
A signature can be many things; beyond written signatures there are examples of
signature style. These boots are a signature item, coming from
the George H.W. Bush Presidential Library Museum. The boots were given to President
Bush by bootmaker Tony Lama. Just a few years after the successful introduction
of Mickey Mouse, this rarely seen illustration is an exhibit from a copyright
infringement lawsuit that Walt Disney filed against a company who created a copycat mouse
named Milton. In 1937, Richard Nixon submitted this application
to be a special agent in the FBI. It wasn’t until Nixon was Vice President of
the United States that he learned what happened. Director of the FBI J. Edgar Hoover
told him that he had been accepted but due to budget cuts, his appointment was held
back. This marriage certificate between Adolf Hitler
and Eva Braun is affixed with their signatures as well as witnesses Joseph Goebbels
and Martin Bormann. Accompanying it is the U.S. Army’s English
translation. “Making Their Mark: Stories Through Signatures”
draws from the billions of government records at the National Archives to showcase
a unique collection of signatures and tell the fascinating stories behind them.