We’re pleased to announce that 256,444 photographs from NASA’s Glenn Research Center have recently been added to the National Archives Catalog. The photos document facilities, personnel, and aeronautic and space technology development at the Glenn Research Center (GRC) in Cleveland, Ohio and at Plum Brook Station1 in Sandusky, Ohio. Also included are publicity photos, as well as images documenting various types of accidents. The photographs in this series were taken between 1943 and 2004; as such, many of the photos are credited to NASA in addition to its predecessor, the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA).
The images in the catalog were scanned by NASA from original prints and negatives. The analog originals and the digital surrogates were transferred to the National Archives Still Picture Branch in 2014 and 2019. In total there are 291,444 individual photographs available in the NARA catalog within 255-GRC: Photographs Relating to Agency Activities, Facilities and Personnel, and there are approximately 13,000 more scans that will be added soon.
There are three ways to search the images in 255-GRC.
- Keyword searches
- Go to this page: https://catalog.archives.gov/search-within/12005631
- Enter your keyword search in the box named “search within this series.”
- If you want to browse through the photos
- Go to this page to view all file units: https://catalog.archives.gov/search-within/12005631?levelOfDescription=fileUnit&limit=100
- Click on the title of the file unit/year you are interested in
- From the file unit page, click on “Search within this file unit” at the top of the page (below the NAID)
- Using our item-level Excel spreadsheet, you can keyword search and review all 256,444 item descriptions that were added to the catalog in 2024. This spreadsheet does not include the 34,956 items that were added to the catalog prior to 2024.
- If you find a description on the spreadsheet, you can view the photo in our catalog by going to catalog.archives.gov and searching the photo ID number using quotation marks. (for example: “255-GRC-2004-C-01368“)
There are no known copyright restrictions for the images in 255-GRC. Researchers may email stillpix@nara.gov with any questions.
Artist Renderings of Temporary and Semi-Permanent Mars Base
Apollo 17 Astronauts During Visit to NASA Lewis Research Center – Eugene Cernan, Ronald Evans, Harrison Schmitt (February 16, 1973)
John Glenn Visits to Lewis Research Center, Including Renaming Events from NASA Lewis Research Center to John H. Glenn Research Center at Lewis Field
Machine Shop
Stephanie Black with Insecticide Sign
- Plum Brook Station was renamed in 2020 as the Neil Armstrong Test Facility ↩︎