Ho! Ho! Ho! Happy Holidays From the Cartographic Branch!

Ho! Ho! Ho! Happy Holidays from the Cartographic Branch! In the spirit of Christmas, with the help of RG 241: Utility Patents, we would like to offer up some guidance and general ideas surrounding Christmas trees and things to do this holiday season! Whether you are more into putting up and decorating the tree, wrapping … Continue reading Ho! Ho! Ho! Happy Holidays From the Cartographic Branch!

Christmas Thoughts: Giving for the Holidays

This post was produced with help from Heidi Holmstrom and Ivy Donnell, who made the GIFs. In December of 1920, Ford Motor Company sent prints of the film Christmas Thoughts (FC-FC-328) to Ford dealers around the country. The film encouraged viewers to establish a local Goodfellows’ Club, with their local dealer serving as the headquarters. … Continue reading Christmas Thoughts: Giving for the Holidays

A puppeteer works inside the Muppet workshop. He adjusts radio controls next to a Hetty Muskrat puppet.

Season’s Greetings from the U.S. Information Agency: “Vision USA” Visits Emmet Otter

In the 1970s, the United States Information Agency’s "Vision USA" brought images of American life to television screens across the globe. The program focused on current events, and occasionally, Muppets. Episode 72 of "Vision USA," released in 1978, takes a behind-the-scenes look at Jim Henson's "Emmet Otter's Jug-Band Christmas." Emmet Otter was one of the … Continue reading Season’s Greetings from the U.S. Information Agency: “Vision USA” Visits Emmet Otter

Spotlight: Christmas During WWII

In honor of the holiday season, the Unwritten Record presents Navy, Army, Marine, and Air Force (AAF) photographs that highlight the various ways in which service members spent Christmas between the years 1941 and 1944. Record Group 80: General Records of the Department of the Navy Record Group 111: Records of the Office of the … Continue reading Spotlight: Christmas During WWII

Spotlight: Last Minute Holiday Gifts!

Co-Authored by Beth Fortson and Corbin Apkin. You wake up in the middle of the night on Christmas Eve and realize that you have forgotten to get a gift for your sister's brand new "He's Totally The One" boyfriend. You get a text from your old college roommate two days before your New Years Party … Continue reading Spotlight: Last Minute Holiday Gifts!

Spotlight: Tinseled Trivia

Co-authored by Beth Fortson, with assistance from Audrey Amidon and Corbin Apkin. Happy Holidays from the Unwritten Record blog team! For this holiday season we've put together some of our best Christmas tree themed special media. From RG-95 we bring you a 1968 film, The Cultured Christmas Tree. From RG-16 we bring you a series of images of … Continue reading Spotlight: Tinseled Trivia

Christmas in Wartime: Battle of the Bulge

This post was written by Kaitlyn Crain Enriquez. **Edit: Seven additional photographs were added on 12/21/2018. ** In December 1944, American forces had been spread across a 75 mile stretch of the Ardennes Forest. The Ardennes was considered to be a minimal fighting area and therefore, the troops that had been placed in the area … Continue reading Christmas in Wartime: Battle of the Bulge

Vintage Footage Reveals How NORAD Tracks Santa

This Christmas Eve, the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) will have tracked Santa Claus's journey around the world for 60 years. Colonel Harry Shoup began the tradition in 1955, after receiving a phone call from a child expecting to reach Santa Claus. The misdirected call was the result of the child reversing two numbers of a Santa … Continue reading Vintage Footage Reveals How NORAD Tracks Santa

Christmas on Base: 13 Images of Our Soldiers at Christmas

This post was written in collaboration with Kelsey Noel. Kelsey is an Archives Technician with the Still Picture Branch in College Park, MD. This week we are highlighting images from RG 111-CCS, the General Subject Photographic Files of the Office of the Chief Signal Officer, which documents non-combat activities in the United States and abroad. These photos, taken … Continue reading Christmas on Base: 13 Images of Our Soldiers at Christmas

Christmas in the Ford Collection: A Merry Christmas to All, 1926

Christmas movies are a staple of the holidays, with cable channels producing and airing so many that the season now seems to start sometime in November. Holiday films are nothing new, of course. The earliest known adaptation of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol was made over a hundred years ago, in 1901. Even the Ford … Continue reading Christmas in the Ford Collection: A Merry Christmas to All, 1926