While our research rooms have been closed to the public, the Special Media Division has made many significant additions and updates to our online catalog. Highlights include: Cartographic Branch Construction and Design Drawings of Guns, Related Machinery and Parts, 1862-1921, 1862 - 1921 (NAID 569429). (8880 item descriptions) Williams Numbers Maps , 1928 - 1957 … Continue reading Special Media Catalog Updates
If there is a straighter stretch of the US Interstate Freeway System than I-90 across South Dakota I'll eat my map. Heading east out of the Badlands, we pass through fields of blooming sunflowers stretching to the horizon and lose count of bikers riding the opposite direction to Sturgis. Before lunch we make our first stop: the … Continue reading Summer Road Trip: Great Plains and 10,000 Lakes
Trans-Continental Motor Convoy crossing the Continental Divide NAID 86733688 and 86733684 This post was co-written with Ashley Behringer and Amy Edwards. We've been offline since saying goodbye to Seattle on Thursday, busy exploring the mountains and high desert of the Northwest, then dropping South to Yellowstone National Park. Fans of the Unwritten … Continue reading Summer Road Trip: Across the Great Divide and into the Badlands
Tomorrow marks the 75th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor. In remembrance of the event, we are presenting related maps, photographs, ship plans, and films held by NARA's Special Media Division. Photographs documenting the aftermath of the attack may be found in the General Photographic File of the Navy (RG 80-G, RG 80-GK), Color Photographs … Continue reading Visualizing Pearl Harbor 75 Years Later
Need a last-minute gift idea for Dear Old Dad? Whatever Dad's hobby or interest, patent files are full of quirky gems. The largest selection is in the series Utility Patent Drawings, 1837 - 1911 NAID 305888 among the Records of the Patent and Trademark Office, Record Group 241, but there are patent drawings in other series, including court … Continue reading Father’s Day Gift Suggestions from the Patent Files
The 1950 Census population schedules will be released in April 2022. In preparation, we are adding over 8000 Enumeration District Maps to the online catalog, including all county maps and any map that includes five or more enumeration districts. Click the NAID links to download full size maps from the online catalog Enumeration Districts-- or "E.D.s" as they are known … Continue reading Snapshot USA: 1950 Census Enumeration District Maps
In 1923, in the wake of World War I, Congress established the American Battle Monuments Commission (ABMC). This independent agency assumed control of commemorative activities begun by the Battle Monuments Board of the War Department. Together with the Office of the Quartermaster General and the Commission of Fine Arts, the ABMC established and maintains overseas commemorative … Continue reading A Worthy Resting Place: American Military Cemeteries Overseas
In 1916, after 2 incidents with German submarines off the east coast of the United States, the U.S. Navy recognized an urgent need for a new kind of vessel, one heavy enough for weather at sea, but nimble enough for antisubmarine maneuvers. The result was the 110 foot submarine chaser. The enabling legislation specified that the … Continue reading Spotlight: Submarine Chasers
Today we're highlighting a small series called Maps of Captured and Abandoned Properties, NAID 960291, filed among the General Records of the Department of the Treasury, Record Group 56. Created after the US Civil War, the maps in this series provide intriguing but fragmentary evidence of property ownership transfers. Few in number, these records raise more questions than they answer-- … Continue reading Map Minutes: Captured and Abandoned Property in the Post-Civil War South
In honor of the Major League Baseball playoffs, the Cartographic and Architectural Branch has pulled together a few records featuring the national past-time.
