Clip from Universal Newsreel Volume 26, Release 440 (Local ID: UN-UN-26-440-1-4) Please Note: Primary source documents used in this post may contain harmful language. See NARA’s Statement on Potentially Harmful Language. The scenes shown in this 1953 Universal Newsreel footage are some of the first moments pioneering transgender woman Christine Jorgensen would spend in the … Continue reading Christine Jorgensen: America’s First Transgender Celebrity
The 2022 National History Day contests resulted in many fascinating projects covering topics ranging from labor and environmental debates to U.S.-China Ping Pong Diplomacy. Now it is time to begin looking ahead to 2023! The 2023 NHD contest theme is Frontiers in History: People, Places, Ideas and on page 35 of the 2023 NHD Theme … Continue reading The Film Frontier: Using Films and Videos in Your National History Day Project
This month, 24 soccer teams from around the world will compete in the eighth FIFA Women's World Cup taking place in France. 2019 also marks twenty years since Mia Hamm and company of the United States Women's National Soccer Team won the 1999 FIFA Women's World Cup. Their win in 1999 became an iconic moment in American sports … Continue reading Title IX and Women’s Soccer in NARA’s Film Holdings
We’ve written here before about the 2007 rescue of a treasure-trove of government films from a shuttered film laboratory. Archivists from the National Archives recovered many films produced across the Federal government so they could be preserved and made accessible to the public. You may be familiar with the anti-drug film Curious Alice, but I … Continue reading Falling Down an Archival Rabbit Hole: Following the Trail from Finished Film Back to the Research that Inspired It
As a girl growing up in the 1980s, Sally Ride was my hero. On forward flight deck of Challenger, Mission Specialist (MS) Ride reclines above pilot's seat in front of pilot's station control panels. Forward control panels and windows appear on her right and seat back with stowage bag and personal egress air pack (PEAP) … Continue reading Sally Ride and the Women of NASA
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?
Archives Specialist Marcia Kolko reports that descriptions for nine small series of video recordings from Record Group 370, National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) have recently been uploaded to the National Archives Catalog The series document a range of NOAA surveys and projects, including documentation of an emergency response drill in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary, images of … Continue reading New Video Series from NOAA Now in the National Archives Catalog
In an effort to provide information on recently declassified motion pictures and sound recordings the Motion Picture, Sound and Video Branch will publish a quarterly list of newly declassified records. The United States Army (USA), United States Air Force (USAF), and the Department of Energy (DOE) have declassified nearly 200 films and sound recordings in the past few … Continue reading Declassified Motion Pictures and Sound Recordings – 1st Quarter
This week’s guest post is from Richard Green, an archives technician with the Motion Picture, Video and Recorded Sound Division of NARA's Research Services, located in College Park, MD. He is currently studying history and psychology at the University of Maryland and is looking forward to attending graduate school in the fall of 2013. The … Continue reading Hollywood Roundtable
