Photographs featured this week come from the series "Construction of Federal Buildings, 1885-1954" (121-BCP). Local Identifier: 121-BCP-137C-6, "Photograph of the Foundation of the Department of Justice Building", July 9, 1932 Local Identifier: 121-BCP-133C-9, "Photograph of the U.S. General Services Administration Building Being Constructed", November 23, 1915 (Originally housed the Department of the Interior from 1917 … Continue reading Images of the Week: Construction of Federal Buildings
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
The gangster was an icon in the 1920s and 30s. While prohibition limited the sale of alcohol, the gangster smuggled in liquor from Canada and established speakeasies across the country. As the Great Depression left thousands unemployed, the gangster embodied a sense of rebellion. Gangsters were immortalized in cinema and talked about in the papers. … Continue reading Gangsters, G-Men, and Archivists
This week in Universal News, the New Year is celebrated in the United States and Cuba. 1933 would be the year that Prohibition was repealed, although the festivities evident in this story certainly do not seem lacking. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TbDXtoOXjSI&feature=youtu.be From the release sheet: BIG CITIES CELEBRATE AS 1932 PASSES OUT; GAILY WELCOME 1933 Unprecedented whoppee and … Continue reading This Week In Universal News: New Year’s Eve, 1932
Before the advent of televised network news programs and the 24 hour news cycle on cable and the internet, newsreels were one of the main sources people had for news. One of five major newsreel companies, Universal Studios produced and released newsreels which were shown in movie theaters, twice a week, from 1929 until 1967. Each release usually … Continue reading A Moving Image “Newspaper”: Universal Newsreels at the National Archives
The theme this week is Photographs of Photographers. Local Identifier: 111-B-1074, "Mathew B. Brady" Local Identifier: 174-G-22-4, "Lewis W. Hine" Local Identifier: 80-G-324556, "Capt. Edward J. Steichen, USNR, (retired), photographic expert, on island platform, studies his surroundings for one of his outstanding photographs of life aboard an aircraft carrier. Capt. Steichen held rank of Comdr. … Continue reading Images of the Week: Photographs of Photographers
The theme this week is Aviation. Local Identifier: 18-WP-48625, Photograph of the Wright Brothers' Camp in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, 1903 Local Identifier: 165-WW-7B-6, "Wright Brothers' 1904 Aeroplane ("Kitty Hawk") in first flight, December 17, 1903 at Kitty Hawk, N.C. Orville Wright at controls. Wilbur Wright standing at right. (first flight was 12 seconds)" Local … Continue reading Images of the Week: Aviation
This post was written by guest blogger Carrie Goeringer. On December 23, 1944, weather on the island of Corsica was bleak and dreary, as it had been for most of the winter. Many of the children who lived on the island had never known a real Christmas because of the ongoing Second World War. So, the … Continue reading Corsican Kids Christmas Party With the 57th Bomb Wing 1944
A couple of weeks ago, we wrote about the 110th anniversary of The Great Train Robbery, a film that pioneered editing techniques that are so commonplace as to be invisible to viewers today and is acknowledged as the first example of modern film fiction narrative. But this wasn’t the only important innovation taking place in December … Continue reading I Saw Kitty Hawk: Film, Memory, and Archives
This week I’m posting several examples of posters from the series Paper Show Exhibition Poster Sets, ca. 1974 – ca. 1994 (306-PSP). These posters were created by the United States Information Agency for exhibits they referred to as "Paper Shows", which were pieced together using multiple posters to create a multi-panel display. The entire series … Continue reading Images of the Week: USIA Paper Shows
