This post was compiled by Harry Kidd. Harry is a volunteer at the National Archives working on textual and photographic digitization projects. Harry is a former Navy photographer and came across this story while researching military photographers. On June 6, 1944 tens of thousands of American servicemen landed on the Normandy Beaches. The National Archives' … Continue reading 75th Anniversary of D-Day
Time to hit the road! Our virtual road trip begins where the photographs, films, sound recordings, maps, and more within the Special Media Division live – at the Archives II building in College Park, Maryland. If you haven't yet visited Archives II, or are unable to travel here and see it for yourself, Still Pictures … Continue reading Summer Road Trip 2019: Maryland and the Traveler’s Toll
This post was written in collaboration with Meghan Ryan Guthorn. The Jewish celebration of Passover began this year on April 19th, 2019. In honor of the holiday, the Still Pictures Branch pulled together some images of servicemen celebrating Passover around the world through the years. The images below depict celebrations from 1918 to 1985, in … Continue reading Celebration of Passover (Photos)
In honor of the holiday season, the Unwritten Record presents Navy, Army, Marine, and Air Force (AAF) photographs that highlight the various ways in which service members spent Christmas between the years 1941 and 1944. Record Group 80: General Records of the Department of the Navy Record Group 111: Records of the Office of the … Continue reading Spotlight: Christmas During WWII
Co-Authored by Beth Fortson and Corbin Apkin. You wake up in the middle of the night on Christmas Eve and realize that you have forgotten to get a gift for your sister's brand new "He's Totally The One" boyfriend. You get a text from your old college roommate two days before your New Years Party … Continue reading Spotlight: Last Minute Holiday Gifts!
Former President George Herbert Walker Bush passed away on November 30, 2018 at the age of 94. At the time of his passing, President Bush had lived longer than any previous president. George H.W. Bush served as the 41st President of the United States from 1989 to 1993 and also held the position of Vice … Continue reading Remembering President George Herbert Walker Bush
The hard-working canine mascots of the U.S. Coast Guard during World War II tried their best to be Good Boys….but sometimes a dog’s just got to be bad. As the Still Picture Branch prepares the digitized images from the U.S. Coast Guard Series “Activities, Facilities and Personalities” for upload into the catalog, we noticed that … Continue reading Bad Boys
For the past couple of months, I’ve been processing a collection related to the architecture, infrastructure, and construction of buildings in the Rocky Mountain Region of the U.S. Forest Service. While sifting through pictures of Toilet Structures and Visitor’s Centers has been surprisingly entertaining, I took particular interest in a photo that had no particular … Continue reading Smoke(y) Signals
On August 26, 1966 an image graced the front page of the New York Times under the headline, “How the Earth Looks from the Moon.” The image was of such low quality that the grey sphere which all of mankind calls home was barely recognizable. Nevertheless, the photograph was remarkable. For the first time, humans … Continue reading Shooting the Moon: Photos of the Lunar Surface and Beyond
They are our sidekicks, our friends, our trusted companions. Protecting us from harm when alerting us to that ferocious looking Girl Scout coming up the front walk. Protecting us from true harm while on sentry duty, alert for movements of enemy forces in the night. Dogs are our guardians and our goofballs, and they loyally … Continue reading Spotlight: Hero Dogs
