In 2003, the New York State Archives launched the States’ Impact on Federal Education Policy Project (SIFEPP), to create a continually growing public resource of archival and published materials on the role of states in shaping federal education policy since the mid-twentieth century. The project provides access to—and, in some cases, expands upon—relevant holdings in the New York State Archives, other state archives, and archival institutions throughout the United States, including the National Archives. Drawing on secondary sources and the personal knowledge of the SIFEPP advisors, this introductory essay is intended to achieve the following three purposes: • To provide for archivists in the project, or otherwise working with education policy related records, a broad historical overview that describes the field’s key developments, events, issues, organizations, and individuals. This background helps archivists, who are usually not expert in education policy, to search for relevant records and assess the records they find. • To help records holders and education professionals understand the relevance of their records and their work within the overall history of education policy. • To be a resource for teachers, students, policymakers, and others engaged with education who may not be familiar with the history of education policy.