This week, we're featuring a speech President Harry S. Truman made June 28, 1947, at the closing of the annual conference of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). From the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, Truman called for the government to protect not just civil liberties, but civil rights. The "recent events" … Continue reading This Week in Universal News: President Truman Addresses the NAACP, 1947
Films from the National Archives can be found all over the world. Clips from our collection end up in documentaries, television shows, museums, classrooms, and living rooms. But sometimes, they end up in places you would not expect. When dealing with archival film, you never know what you’re going to get… In commemoration of the … Continue reading Forrest Gump at the Archives
This week, we return to the 1964 World's Fair, where a special exhibit for children touted the wonders of atomic energy. Among other activities, the children learned how to use mechanical hands to safely handle uranium, searched for ore on a light-up map, and rode a stationary bike to discover that it would take thirty … Continue reading This Week in Universal News: World’s Fair Children’s Exhibit, 1964
This week we celebrate the National Archives' 80th birthday. For the motion picture lab, this anniversary was an opportunity to look back to the beginnings of the organization, when the Archives was still in its teen years and William T. Cooper, Jr. posed for photographs with the Depue optical reduction film printer. The photos, taken … Continue reading Film Preservation 101: This 80 Year Old Film Printer Still Contributes to Preservation
The National Archives turns the big 8-0 on June 19. You may have thought the Archives was older considering our country is almost 250 years old, but it wasn’t until 1934 that President Franklin Roosevelt signed the National Archives Act (48 Stat. 1122) creating the National Archives as an independent agency. What, you might ask, … Continue reading Happy Birthday National Archives!
What are you doing with your summer? Ever thought of building your own submarine? This week, we're featuring a homemade submarine, built by amateur inventor Byron Connett in the early 1930s. The underwater vessel was only ten feet long and 34 inches high. The inaugural voyage lasted 45 minutes and covered one mile. http://youtu.be/-yD79xSkUGE From … Continue reading This Week in Universal News: A Homemade Submarine, 1934
This week’s guest post is from Gene Burkett and Jan Hodges, volunteers at NARA in College Park, MD. They are co-leads, along with Warren McKay, on the Record Group 120, World War I Project. They believe that the Project, which has been in progress for more than four years, may wrap up before they retire from … Continue reading World War I Art and Combat Artists
On June 11, 1963, Vivian Malone and James Hood arrived at the University of Alabama to register for summer classes. Instead of a helpful low-level administrator guiding them through the process, it took the National Guard to ensure their enrollment-- George Wallace, the governor of their state, was blocking the door. Wallace's "Stand in the Schoolhouse … Continue reading This Week in Universal News: The University of Alabama is Desegregated, 1963
This week I’m highlighting color photographs taken as the Western Allies prepared for the invasion of Normandy (D-Day). The overwhelming majority of D-Day related color still film found in the National Archives document the pre-assault phase and not of the invasion area. Black-and-White photographs and other D-Day related documents from the National Archives can be … Continue reading Images of the Week: D-Day in Color
Jack Lieb went to Europe in 1943 with two movie cameras: He brought his 35mm black and white camera to film war coverage for Hearst's News of the Day newsreels and his 16mm home movie camera to shoot color film to show to his family back home. After the war, Lieb edited the color footage … Continue reading A Newsreel Cameraman’s View of D-Day
