The mission of the
Eisenhower Library is to preserve and make available historical documentation
relating to the life and times of Dwight D. Eisenhower. Our holdings
include written and photographic records of many of the most important
world events of the twentieth century. By encouraging and facilitating
use of these historical materials, it is our hope that students and
teachers alike, undertaking this research in primary historical materials,
will gain a greater knowledge of our nation's and world's past. Such
knowledge can, we believe, help develop deeper understanding of current
issues confronting our nation, resulting in more positive and widespread
citizen participation in public affairs.
The staff at the
Eisenhower Library is very interested in making our historical resources
available to a wider and younger audience. One of the most practical
ways of doing this is to produce document packets for educational use
in schools. Archivists can and should ally themselves with teachers
in cooperative working relationships. This is, we think, the raison
d être for document packets.
During the early
1990s- the years commemorating the 50th Anniversary of World War II-the
Eisenhower Library produced a document packet relating to the war. Students
were challenged with examining facsimile copies of key wartime documents
and making determinations as to which documents were most significant.
The scenario suggested for this project called for a student to play
the role of enemy agent, gaining access to highly sensitive documents.
We selected a well-documented event, which, if the outcome had been
different, might have significantly altered the course of history-D-Day,
June 6, 1944. We asked, "What if the Allied landings in Normandy
had failed?" Some of the documents in the packet provide critical
information, which, in the hands of enemy agents, would have almost
certainly have changed the outcome of the Allied landings in France
in June 1944. We included among these sensitive, high-level documents
two or three which would have been more routine in nature, and one which
was produced in Allied headquarters as a joke.
Speaking personally,
one of the most satisfying experiences we have as archivists at the
Dwight D. Eisenhower Library is to see a young person become excited
about studying history. It is our hope that this Spy Kit document packet
will stimulate such interest.
David Haight
Archivist
January 4, 2002
