Lost On April 4, 1943, a B-24D Liberator nicknamed Lady Be Good took off from Soluch, an airstrip located near Bengazi, Libya, for what would be her first and final mission. During that fateful trip, Lady Be Good carried nine members of the 514th Squadron, 376th Bomb Group, 9th Air Force. Their names: 1st Lieutenant … Continue reading Lost and Found: The Story of ‘Lady Be Good’ and Her Crew
The flag of the United States of America was adopted 240 years ago on June 14, 1777. Throughout our nation's history our flag has taken on many forms, growing with the country it so proudly represents. It has also taken on many affectionate monikers - the American Flag; the Stars and Stripes; Old Glory; the … Continue reading Spotlight: Flag Day
This Blog Post was Co-written By Matthew Heichelbech Temperatures around the country are rising, which means two things: It's nearly summer and it's time to Barbecue!! In honor of our national penchant for outdoor cooking, we've collected some pictures of Americans from all over the country Bar-B-Qing all over the world. Enjoy!
On 9 April 1865, Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrendered his Army of Northern Virginia to Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Courthouse. Over the course of April and into early May, more and more Confederate commanders surrendered their armies, and on 10 May 1865, Union troops captured Confederate President Jefferson Davis. Three days later, at … Continue reading Brady’s Lens: The Civil War and the Mathew Brady Collection in the National Archives
On December 30, 1947, the United States Air Force (USAF) began the process of collecting and evaluating all facts related to flying saucers and other types of unidentified flying objects (UFOs). Between 1947 and 1969, 12,618 sightings were reported to the USAF program titled Project Blue Book, headquartered at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. Scientists and … Continue reading Aliens at the Archives
April 6 marks the 100th anniversary of the United States’ entry into World War I, as well as the culmination of a massive digitization project from the National Archives. Through a generous donation made by an anonymous donor, the National Archives was able to digitize over 110,000 photographs and nearly 300 reels of film related to … Continue reading Accessing World War I Photos in the Digital Age
This post was co-authored with Kaitlyn Crain Enriquez. In this four part series, the Still Picture Branch will be introducing various methods that can be used while researching photographs of military units during World War II. The first part will focus specifically on Army photographs, but we will also cover Air Force, Navy, and Marine research in … Continue reading How to Research: Photographs Relating to World War II Army Units
For the past two years, the National Archives Motion Picture Preservation Lab has been digitizing a series of Army Signal Corps films as part of a larger project to commemorate the centennial of World War I. Meanwhile, technicians from the Still Pictures Branch and the Digitization Division have scanned tens of thousands of Signal Corps … Continue reading Shooting World War I: The History of the Army Signal Corps Cameramen, 1917-1918
The first presidential statement observing women’s history was issued by President Jimmy Carter in 1980, who declared March 2-8 as National Women’s History Week. Carter’s official acknowledgment of Women’s History Week was monumental given that it grew out of one local celebration in Santa Rosa, California. The following year, Public Law No. 97-28 was passed, which … Continue reading Spotlight: Women Doing Awesome Things
This blog post was co-authored by Aaron Arthur. On March 1, 1872, President Ulysses S. Grant signed the Yellowstone National Park Protection Act into law. This legislation, officially named "An Act to Set Apart a Certain Tract of Land Lying Near the Head-Waters of the Yellowstone River as a Public Park," described 3,472 square miles of wilderness in … Continue reading Happy 145th Birthday, Yellowstone National Park!
