Memorial Day 2015: Why It Matters

Archivist Rod Ross brings meaning to the intention of the founder of Memorial Day, John A. Logan, whose 1868 proclamation led to today’s holiday. In doing so, he traces his own life’s trajectory from a 1950s grade school student to an archivist bringing meaning to a soldier’s name at the base of a Batavia, Illinois, Civil War statue, thanks to a historical record from the National Archives in Washington, DC. In this season of sesquicentennial Civil War observances, as we pause for Memorial Day, it is fitting that we remember those who gave their lives for the preservation of the Union and in the process helped free the slaves.