This week I'm posting photographs from the Bureau of Public Roads and its successor the Federal Highway Administration. These images relate to the Washington, D.C. area and are just a few examples of what can be found in the series Historical Photograph Files, 1896-1963 (30-N) and General Photograph Files, 1954-1984 (406-G), which both contain photos … Continue reading Images of the Week: Washington, DC Roads
The two photographs posted this week come from the series "Photographic File of the Paris Bureau of the New York Times, ca. 1900 - ca. 1950" (306-NT). I guess you can say the theme this week is historic golf courses. Local Identifier: 306-NT-804-P-5 "Augusta, GA - "The Perfect Course" which has only 22 traps, known … Continue reading Images of the Week: Historic Golf Courses
Photographs posted this week come from one of my favorite series, "Airscapes" of American and Foreign Areas, 1917 - 1964" (18-AA). Click on the images below to view higher resolution versions. Local Identifier: 18-AA-138-5. Washington, D.C. - Keystone Bombardment airplanes of 2nd Bombardment Group. April 23, 1931. Local Identifier: 18-AA-139-2. Washington, D.C. - Griffith Stadium. … Continue reading Images of the Week: Airscapes
With the 50th Anniversary of the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom occurring this past Wednesday, it was easy to come up with this week's subject matter. Here are a few of the images found in the series "Miscellaneous Subjects, Staff and Stringer Photographs, 1961 - 1974" (306-SSM). Local Identifier: 306-SSM-4-D-102-15. "Civil Rights March … Continue reading Images of the Week: The March on Washington
Today’s post is from Criss Kovac. Criss is the supervisor of the Motion Picture Preservation Lab, which is responsible for performing conservation and preservation work on motion picture records held across the National Archives. Recently, she completed a digital restoration of The March. The March, the James Blue film documenting the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs … Continue reading Protecting Your Past–It’s What We Do Here: The Preservation and Restoration of The March
The theme this week is oil and I’m not talking about cooking oil, but crude. Here's several images from our holdings that might be of interest. Local Identifier: 330-CFD-DN-ST-90-04678 "Exxon tugboats escort the commercial tanker Exxon Valdez. A massive oil spill occurred when the vessel ran aground while transiting the waters of Prince William Sound … Continue reading Images of the Week: Oil
It's been a while since our last Still Picture blog post, so to make up for it we are going to try and post one or several interesting images from our holdings at the end of each week. For this week, I'm posting images from two series, "Scuttlebum Posters" (344-SBP) and "Original Artwork for World … Continue reading Images of the Week: World War II Posters
There are many sound systems that have been used for motion picture films over the years. Some of the earliest relied on sound recorded to a disc or cylinder that had to be played back in sync with the film. Even after optical soundtracks became the industry standard, there were multiple optical systems available. … Continue reading The Challenge of the Push-Pull Track
My first couple of blogs focused on born-digital and scanned images created by Federal agencies and accessioned to the Still Picture unit, but I’m now shifting gears and highlighting some of our in-house digitization activities. The main series I’m going to talk about can trace its roots back to 1974 when we received the first … Continue reading Digitization Activities
I’ve gotten to know President Harry Truman pretty well over the past year. I’m familiar with his opinions, mannerisms, and vocal cadence. In some ways, he reminds me of my grandfather. How did I become so well-acquainted with our 33rd president? I’ve never met him and I’m no presidential historian, but I do work in … Continue reading Getting to Know Harry Truman
