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the US constitution is written on dark brown paper in elaborate script; the inset photo features a white woman with brown hair and wearing a black top; she's looking to her right and her lips are pursed; on a TV monitor in the background — out of focus — you can see a senator holding up a piece of paper, presumably asking a question or making a point during Shogan's confirmation hearing
U.S. Constitution: Mark Schiefelbein/AP — Colleen Shogan (inset): Manuel Balce Ceneta/AP

The 21st Show

Former Archivist of the U.S. Colleen Shogan on preserving historic documents, facing public pressure, and being fired by President Trump

Colleen Shogan was the 11th Archivist of the United States — the head of the National Archives and Records Administration. The agency is responsible for safeguarding America's founding documents, other important government records, and running many of the presidential libraries across the country.

Shogan was appointed by President Joe Biden and confirmed by the Senate. But while the job is traditionally seen as non-partisan and previous archivists have spanned administrations, President Donald Trump fired Shogan soon after taking office. We'll talk about that and more.

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a collage of objects including a black leather folio with the name Abraham Lincoln stamped on it in gold, a yellowed bust of Lincoln, a wooden-handled axe, a large wooden desk with 40 pigeon-holes and 12 vertical slots for storing letters and papers; tools including a hammer, chisel, pliers, and a lantern; and an apron with a blue bust decorated with white stars, and red-and-white stripes around the skirt
Objects photographed by Maxwell Johnson for Rizzoli and the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum

The 21st Show

Abraham Lincoln in 100 objects

A new book and exhibit at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum aims to tell the story of our 16th president through objects and documents from his life. Co-written by the ALPLM's chief of acquisitions Ian Hunt and museum director Christina Shutt, the book is called Lincoln: A Life and Legacy that Defined a Nation in 100 Objects (Rizzoli, $50).

The related exhibition of some of the objects from the book also marks both the museum's 20th anniversary and the upcoming 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. It's called Lincoln: A Life and Legacy that Defined a Nation and it's open through April 26, 2026.

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a composite graphic including a portrait of author Adam Aleksic wearing a white T-shirt and black shirt tied at the waist; slang words skibidi, rizz, sigma and 67; and the book cover of Algospeak: How Social Media is Transforming the Future of Language
Portrait by Alefiyah Gandhi via Penguin Random House

The 21st Show

Best of: How social media is changing language, with @EtymologyNerd

If you have young people in your life, you might've heard them use words such as skibidi (SKIH-bih-dee) or rizz or sigma. Maybe that's mumbo-jumbo to you, as mumbo-jumbo was to someone else in the past. But Adam Aleksic says that's just how language evolves. And as we continue through the internet age — specifically the era of short form video — the rate of change in our language is only going to accelerate.

Aleksic, known online as @EtymologyNerd, writes about this in his new book, Algospeak: How Social Media Is Transforming the Future of Language.

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