The Universal Newsreel Collection chronicles some of the most important historical, cultural and sporting events and trends of the early to mid 20th Century. Among the footage of military invasions, coronations, and Olympics it is possible to find footage of lesser known citizens who also made their mark on history. One such story comes from a … Continue reading Spotlight: Learning More About Female Firefighters From Universal News Production Files
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
In recent months, the National Archives' Education Updates blog has posted a series of pieces focusing on award-winning National History Day documentaries. National History Day is an annual contest for students in grades 6-12 to produce a variety of project types, including exhibits, websites, papers, performances, and documentaries. NARA’s Education Specialists have covered three fantastic … Continue reading Spotlight: Finding Footage for National History Day Projects
February 11 is International Day of Women and Girls in Science, a day set aside to recognize the role women and girls play in science and technology and promote full and equal access to participation in science. What better way to recognize the day than by highlighting a few NASA trailblazers? Still taken from 255-HQ-296 … Continue reading Celebrate International Day of Women and Girls in Science with NASA Trailblazers
Each year on January 27, the world pauses on International Holocaust Remembrance Day to commemorate the genocide that resulted in the deaths of more than 6 million Jews and 11 million others by the Nazi regime and its collaborators. The United Nations General Assembly decided on January 27 because it is the anniversary of the … Continue reading Finding Family in Images of Liberation at Buchenwald
Today marks the 117th anniversary of the Wright Brothers first flights at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, ushering in the age of powered flight. To celebrate this incredible milestone, we would like to present records related to the Wright Brothers and their achievement. The dawn of the twentieth century was a time of tremendous scientific progress … Continue reading Caretakers of the Sky: The Wright Brothers and Recording the Aerial Age
The International Military Tribunal, more commonly known at the Nuremberg trials, began this week 75 years ago in Nuremberg, Germany. The trials were a series of military tribunals held to convict major Nazi German leaders on charges of crimes against peace, war crimes, crimes against humanity, and conspiracy to commit each of these crimes. It … Continue reading The Nuremberg Trials, 75 Years Later
A couple of years back, the National Archives Motion Picture Preservation Lab started seeing an uptick in researcher reference requests for one specific series of films: 306-LSS, a group of more than 400 black and white reels of stock footage that ended up in the hands of the United States Information Agency (USIA). As the … Continue reading Searchable Stock Shots: 306-LSS Films Now Online!
On the morning of October 19th, 1781, British troops along with their allies marched out of Yorktown, Virginia with flags furled to surrender to combined American and French forces. The siege and surrender at Yorktown proved to be the decisive blow to British hopes of regaining control of the American colonies. To celebrate the anniversary … Continue reading Victory at Yorktown
Today’s post is by Laurie Austin. Laurie is an audiovisual archivist at the Harry S. Truman Presidential Library. In honor of Home Movie Day 2020, Laurie is sharing the story of how President Truman came to turn his camera on the White House photographers, with delightful results. President Harry S. Truman had a fascinating relationship … Continue reading Harry S. Truman and the “One More Club”: The President Makes a Movie
