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
In addition to photographs, the Still Picture Branch maintains several series of posters within its holdings. Recently added to the online catalog, series 85-P: Passenger Ship Posters, ca. 1906-1957 includes posters and schedules advertising European and U.S. passenger services for travel across the Atlantic and around the world in the early 20th century. Along with … Continue reading Posters of Early 20th Century Passenger Ships
Tuesday, November 3, 2020 marks the 59th quadrennial presidential election. In honor of the upcoming election, the Unwritten Record has selected photographs and posters that document the voting process in the United States and abroad. All photographs included within this post are available in the National Archives Catalog. … Continue reading Images of the Week: Vote, Voting, Voted!
As the leaves start to change with the seasons, we can take this time to enjoy the cooler temperatures and fall foliage. Fittingly, the fall season may be some of the best times to explore the country through photographs, and there is no doubt the National Scenic Byways of the United States are home to … Continue reading Pumpkin, Spice, and Everything Nice: The Fall Season Along the National Scenic Byways
There’s just something about old maps – some ineffable quality that draws the attention and makes one stop and bend closer to see what is there……and what’s not there. Has the landscape changed? Are towns missing or are towns shown that no longer exist? Is it engraved or is it a manuscript map? Are there … Continue reading Travelling Back in Time to the New York City of 1767-1768 via the Ratzen Map
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
As we close out Hispanic Heritage Month (September 15 through October 15), we continue to recognize the achievements made by Hispanics. Those achievements include Rita Moreno, the first Hispanic actress to win an Oscar for her role in West Side Story; their participation in military wars, such as World War I and II; Justice Sonya Sotomayor … Continue reading Hispanic Heritage Month – Recognizing and Celebrating Hispanic Culture
Sometimes when receiving permanent photographic records from federal agencies, we find surprises within the boxes. These can include photographic related items and non-photographic artifacts. For this post, I am highlighting just some of these items, but certainly not all found within our Still Picture Branch holdings. One of our favorite non-photographic items are J. Edgar … Continue reading Still Picture Branch Artifacts
