When the San Rafael Elks purchased Maple Lawn, the estate formerly owned by California Gold Rush heiress Louise Arner Boyd, they also acquired 150 reels of 35mm nitrate film stored on the grounds. Boyd shot the reels over nearly two decades, from travels in the early 1920s, to a 1941 trip to West Greenland, with … Continue reading Filming the Far North: Louise Arner Boyd’s Arctic Travels
On May 15th, 1973, NASA launched the first space station. The first three-person crew took up residence 11 days later. Over the course of roughly six months and three crews, Skylab served as a base for scientific research conducted in space. The astronauts’ schedule of experimentation and observation also included scientific demonstrations broadcast to Earth … Continue reading Skylab and NASA’s Space Classroom
This post was adapted from a presentation given by Criss Austin and includes extracts from an email she recently sent to staff. Criss is the supervisor of the Motion Picture Preservation Lab at the National Archives in College Park, Maryland. The National Archives holds tens of thousands of feet of motion pictures recording the horrors … Continue reading A Framework for Remembrance: NARA Contributes Holocaust Films to EU Project
While space is famously described as “the final frontier,” it only narrowly beats out the oceans of our own planet. Nearly three-quarters of the Earth is made up of ocean, yet only a small portion has been explored or mapped. In the 1960s, a group of Navy divers, led by Dr. George F. Bond, attempted … Continue reading Earth’s Last Frontier: Moving Images of the Navy’s SEALAB Project
All this month, the National Park Service is celebrating the 100th anniversary of the completion and dedication of the Lincoln Memorial. Here at the National Archives, we hold literally thousands of records related to the iconic landmark, including several thousand that are digitized and available in the online Catalog. Photograph of the Abraham Lincoln Statue … Continue reading Lincoln Memorial Link Roundup
Before the National Archives held more than half a million reels of film, nearly 200,000 videos, and over 300,000 sound recordings originating from dozens of government agencies (and decades before the existence of the National Archives) Carl Louis Gregory was a motion picture cameraman dedicated to the evolution of the field. Staff identification card for … Continue reading Carl Louis Gregory, Founder of Film Preservation at NARA
Veterans Day is observed every November 11th in the United States. It marks the end of fighting in World War I, the war that was supposed to end all wars, and honors our nation’s military veterans. Here at the Unwritten Record, we share a lot of records related to military history and those who have … Continue reading Veterans Day Military History Link Roundup
Today, we take for granted that moving images are used to educate. Generations of school children grew up with teachers turning down the lights, rolling in a film projector or television and flipping a switch or pressing a button to start the show. It might be surprising to learn that there was a time when … Continue reading “Edited by Laura Thornburgh,” Pioneer of Motion Picture Education
You may have heard that the National Archives is partnering with the University of Maryland Cinema and Media Studies Program to present Films of State, an online conference on government-produced moving images (if not, check out my last blog post for more background). What you may not know is that the National Archives sponsored a … Continue reading 50 Years Makes a Difference! How Film Research Has Changed Since the 1972 Conference on Audiovisual Archives
Today I am thrilled to tell you about something we’ve been working on: Films of State, a three day online conference focused on government films and NARA’s holdings, scheduled for April 7-9, 2021. We’ve partnered with the University of Maryland Cinema and Media Studies program and gathered an international slate of scholars to discuss some … Continue reading Introducing Films of State, a Conference on Government Films
