Dong Kingman: Watercolor Master

May is Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, and in honor of this, we will be highlighting records related to the Chinse American watercolor artist, Dong Kingman.  The Moving Image and Sound Branch has two beautiful color films that capture the work of Kingman and show the process of how he painted his masterpieces.  … Continue reading Dong Kingman: Watercolor Master

RG 241: Restored Patents Now Fully Digitized and Available Online!

The RG 241: Restored Patents (NAID 305885) are finally here and available for viewing and download via the National Archives catalog!  In addition to containing some very detailed and colorful images, this series is particularly interesting because of its unique background. In 1836, the Patent Office was being housed in the Blodget Hotel in Washington, … Continue reading RG 241: Restored Patents Now Fully Digitized and Available Online!

When James McNeill Whistler Worked for the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey

Most of us know about James McNeill Whistler’s famous work “Arrangement in Gray and Black No. 1: The Artist’s Mother”, more commonly known as simply “Whistler’s Mother”, but my guess is that we know somewhat less about some of his other works.  For instance, did you know that in the cartographic holdings of the National … Continue reading When James McNeill Whistler Worked for the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey

Spotlight: Dogs in Airbrush

Airbrushing was an early method of retouching and coloring photographs which can be traced back as far as the late 1800s. It is a unique process which creates a beautiful matte effect, causing images to look as though they are caught somewhere between photograph and painting. While the technology is still employed today, in the … Continue reading Spotlight: Dogs in Airbrush

Classes, Teachers, Workbooks – School in the CCC

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) was established by Congress in early 1933 as part of Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal.  As the country faced the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl in the 1930's, several government initiatives were developed to provide relief. This relief was often accomplished through job creation. Although many of the programs … Continue reading Classes, Teachers, Workbooks – School in the CCC

World War I Combat Artists – Wallace Morgan

Guest blogger Jan Hodges became interested in World War I combat art as a result of her involvement as a volunteer in a holdings maintenance project for American Expeditionary Forces (AEF) documents at the National Archives at College Park. This article is part six of the series about World War I Art and Artists. Captain … Continue reading World War I Combat Artists – Wallace Morgan

World War I Combat Artists – Harvey Dunn

Guest blogger Jan Hodges became interested in World War I combat art as a result of her involvement as a volunteer in a holdings maintenance project for documents of the American Expeditionary Forces (AEF) at the National Archives at College Park. This article is part four of the series about World War I Art and Artists. … Continue reading World War I Combat Artists – Harvey Dunn

World War I Art and Combat Artists

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

The Real Monuments Men

Nestled within the Italian Alps, in the small village of San Leonardo, behind the doors of an abandoned jail cell, sat some of the world’s most cherished pieces of art. Together with a nearby repository in Campo Tures, it was estimated that the hidden artwork was worth about 500 million dollars. That was in 1945. … Continue reading The Real Monuments Men

Images of the Week: World War II Posters

It's been a while since our last Still Picture blog post, so to make up for it we are going to try and post one or several interesting images from our holdings at the end of each week. For this week, I'm posting images from two series, "Scuttlebum Posters" (344-SBP) and "Original Artwork for World … Continue reading Images of the Week: World War II Posters