On August 25, 1916, Woodrow Wilson signed into law the Organics Act, creating the National Park Service (NPS), a new federal bureau responsible for protecting the existing 35 national parks and monuments. In 1933, the National Park Service greatly expanded when all parks, monuments, and historical areas overseen by the government were transferred to the … Continue reading Planning America’s Best Idea: Master Plans for National Parks
Recently, I had the opportunity to work with a series of sailing directions found in RG 456, Foreign Sailing Directions. These volumes are mostly smallish, bound books published by individual governments and collected by the Defense Mapping Agency and its predecessors from approximately 1892 to 2005. Some of the volumes have English translations, … Continue reading A Brief Glimpse of the German Empire Through the Lens of a State Seal
Co-Authored by Kelsey Noel and Corbin Apkin. This August marks the 75th anniversary of Operation Watchtower, otherwise known as the Guadalcanal Campaign. Operation Watchtower was a series of engagements between the Allied forces (comprised heavily of U.S. Marines) and the Japanese military. The campaign began on August 7th, 1942 with the first amphibious landings … Continue reading Operation Watchtower: The Guadalcanal Campaign
One fascinating way to look at our history is by studying the tools we have invented and used throughout the years. There is no better way to do this than by looking at the patent drawings we hold in the Cartographic Branch at the National Archives. The majority of the patent drawings we have are … Continue reading Utility Patent Drawings
One of the most interesting ways of seeing World War II military operations from the point of view of the Axis powers is by looking in the National Archives' materials held in Record Group 242: National Archives Collection of Foreign Records Seized. This record group includes documents, films, photographs and maps that were seized from the Axis … Continue reading Recently Opened Series: German World War II Maps
America stands unique in the world: the only country not founded on race but on a way, an ideal. Not in spite of but because of our polyglot background, we have had all the strength in the world. That is the American way. –President Ronald ReaganDecember 1945, in honor of Kazuo Masuda andAugust 10, 1988, at … Continue reading Fractured Ideals: Japanese American Internment through a Government Lens
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
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
General Douglas MacArthur served as the commander of the U.S. Army Forces in the Far East during World War II. During the war, MacArthur led the campaign in the Pacific theater for the Army. In 1966, the Department of the Army published two volumes of reports of MacArthur’s involvement in the war. These reports describe … Continue reading General Douglas MacArthur’s Strategic World War II Maps
National Lighthouse Day is August 7 and to celebrate, we’re highlighting some architectural drawings and maps relating to lighthouses from our holdings of the Records of the United States Coast Guard, Record Group 26 (NAID 592785). Among these drawings are plans for the lighthouse at Alcatraz Island (NAID 731005). Yes, there's more than a prison … Continue reading Lighthouse Drawings in celebration of National Lighthouse Day
