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
2020 marks the long-awaited completion of the U.S. Army Signal Corps Historical Films digitization project. Boasting nearly 800 reels of film, Record Group 111 (Records of the Office of the Chief Signal Officer), Series H (Historical Films) has been digitized in its entirety and will be available in the National Archives catalog and National Archives … Continue reading Now Playing: Historical Films of the U.S. Army Signal Corps
This post was written by guest blogger Tanya Goldman. Goldman is a PhD Candidate in Cinema Studies at New York University. The ease with which most of us stream movies and television makes it hard to envision the labor of media distribution. Before home video and streaming, transporting films as physical objects demanded careful logistical … Continue reading How the U.S. Army Served its Movie-Mad GIs during World War II
In honor of our colleagues across the country that are dealing with rough instances of winter weather, we’d like to draw your attention to some fun images from our collection of Photographs Related to Byrd Antarctic Expedition II , 1933 – 1935. (Local Identifier XSC-G, NAID 139058663). These images were accumulated and maintained by Stevenson … Continue reading It’s Cold Outside: Photos from the Second Byrd Antarctic Expedition
‘Tis the season for holiday films on repeat. Have you grown tired of the leg lamp? Soured on that aloof beagle? Wearied of the mean one with termites in his smile? Are you, gentle reader, bored of Bedford Falls? Fear not, for the National Archives has holiday films that entertain and inform beyond the wildest … Continue reading A Holiday Playlist, To: You, From: The Unwritten Record
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!
You may have heard of World War II Coast Guard hero, Sinbad the sailor dog. Sinbad (c.1937 – 1951) is famous for being the mascot of the USCGC Campbell, and was classified as a non-commissioned officer – “Chief Dog”. “Sinbad is a fighting dog from a fighting ship. Sinbad is the mascot of the … Continue reading The Further Adventures of Sinbad
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
In light of the 2018 NFL Draft taking place this week, April 26th – 28th, we at The Unwritten Record decided to highlight some of the football related records in our Still Pictures collection. Dating all the way back to 1936, the NFL Draft represents a time during the “off-season” when teams reload their rosters … Continue reading Off the Board: Photographs of Past NFL Draftees
On April 18th, 1945, war correspondent Ernie Pyle was killed by enemy fire on Iejima* during the Battle of Okinawa. At the time of his death, Pyle, a Pulitzer Prize winning journalist, was well-known for his intimate and personal storytelling that highlighted the experiences of the “average” soldier. Pyle was able to tell the stories … Continue reading Spotlight: Remembering Ernie Pyle
