Keeping (and Telling) the Past

Inspired by Austin Kleon’s newspaper blackout poetry, the National Archives Foundation in celebration of National Poetry month in 2015 included a posting of two poems made by preserving only selected words in documents. The first poem is from a menu from the Truman-era, and the other, from Eisenhower’s D-Day Statement to Soldiers, Sailors and Airmen. The post also includes how-to information for others who might want to choose such records and create their own poems.