Today’s post was written by Burton Blume, a brand consultant/creative strategist based in Tokyo, Japan. He contacted us last year when we featured footage shot by his father, Lt. Wilbur T. Blume. In part one of this series of posts, Blume traced his father's story up to when Lt. Blume was assigned the task of producing a film about … Continue reading The Reel Catch-22, Pt. 2: Joseph Heller and Training During Combat
Today's post was written by Burton Blume, a brand consultant/creative strategist based in Tokyo, Japan. He contacted us last year when we featured footage shot by his father, Lt. Wilbur T. Blume. We were intrigued by additional information Burton Blume was able to add to previously unexamined motion picture records. In this series of posts, Burton Blume relates stories of … Continue reading The Reel Catch-22, Part 1: Lt. Wilbur T. Blume, Combat Cameraman
This post was written by Steve Greene. Steve is the Special Media Holdings Coordinator for the Presidential Libraries System. Previously, he was the audiovisual archivist for the Nixon Presidential Materials. Despite being cataloged, described, and housed at the National Archives for decades, the films created by the U.S. Military during World War II still hold … Continue reading The First D-Day Documentary
On September 1, 1939, Germany invaded Poland, marking the official start of the Second World War. Sixteen days later, Russia invaded Poland from the east. By the end of September, Poland had succumbed to the dual attacks. The nation was divided between Russia and Germany according to boundaries established in a secret clause of a nonaggression … Continue reading This Week in Universal News: The Invasion of Poland, 1939
What would you do if you were a popular general in the United States Army, a tireless advocate for military aviation, and instead of getting a promotion to Chief of the Air Service, you were demoted and sent halfway across the country? If it was 1925 and your name was Billy Mitchell, you might just have a giant barbecue, complete with a … Continue reading Billy Mitchell’s Boozy Barbecue Send-Off, 1925
The story of the North Platte, Nebraska canteen reads more like a Frank Capra movie rather than an Army film production. As the story goes, a rumor had started that a train carrying troops from Nebraska would be arriving at North Platte on Christmas Day 1941. About five hundred townspeople came to greet the train bearing food and … Continue reading Supporting Troops on the Homefront: The North Platte, Nebraska Canteen
Sometimes we come across government films that are so well-produced and visually appealing that it stands to reason that they must also have an effective message. Sometimes that's just not the case. Curious Alice is one such film. Weekend with a Superman is another. http://youtu.be/OBaZNBxIlHk Produced in 1975, “Weekend with a Superman” was part of the Army’s … Continue reading A Superfly Shambles: Weekend with a Superman
Fifty years ago, in what came to be known as the Gulf of Tonkin Incident, North Vietnamese patrol boats attacked the U.S.S. Maddox. The events led to Congress passing the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, which allowed the president to increase U.S. involvement in Vietnam without Congressional approval. In this week's Universal newsreel, the story, including … Continue reading This Week in Universal News: The Gulf of Tonkin Incident, 1964
Today we’re debuting our new name! From now on, the blog of the National Archives’ Special Media Services Division will be known as The Unwritten Record. We’ll feature the same great content—film, photographs, videos, sound recordings, and other non-textual records from the National Archives’ holdings-- just with a new and improved name! Media Matters was fine, … Continue reading Introducing The Unwritten Record!
Decades after the Roswell Incident people are still fascinated by it. Last October we wrote about National Archives moving image holdings relating to Project Blue Book and unidentified flying objects (UFOs). In addition to Project Blue Book we also have records relating to the alleged UFO crash in Roswell, New Mexico in 1947. The U.S. … Continue reading The Roswell Reports: What crashed in the desert?
