In the time since the cornerstone was laid in 1915, the Lincoln Memorial has become a national symbol and is easily one of the most recognizable structures in the United States. Situated between Arlington National Cemetery and the Reflecting Pool, the Lincoln Memorial provides a breathtaking view of the World War II Memorial, the Washington … Continue reading What Might Have Been: Original Concept Art for the Lincoln Memorial
Photographs of Native Americans can be found throughout the holdings of the National Archives in many record groups and series. Most of the records pertaining to Native Americans can be found in record group 75, Records of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, 1793-1999. An interested researcher should certainly not overlook these records when conducting a … Continue reading Non-Military Photographs of Native Americans Within the Records of the Chief Signal Officer
Working within the Special Media Division presents many challenges. Not only do staff strive to become experts on the subject matter covered within our holdings, but also the physical format and the processes that made them. In the Still Picture Branch, we have a wide range of photographic formats and processes that provide unique preservation … Continue reading 19th Century Photographic Processes and Formats
For an overview of Military Personnel Photographs, please see our website https://www.archives.gov/research/still-pictures/military-personnel-photographs. Searching for photographs of specific service members can be difficult. Within the holdings of the Still Picture Branch we have personality indexes can help assist in the search for specific individuals in the military. The Army’s personality index titled 111-PX: Index to Personalities … Continue reading How to Search Still Photographs for Army Personalities
The Cartographic Branch is digitizing the Record Group 77, War Department Map Collection (NAID 305808), which consists of maps of both the United States and foreign areas. At this time, only the maps relating to the United States have been digitized, although we hope to digitized the foreign maps in the future. The United States … Continue reading Highlights from the War Department Map Collection
Still from 18-SFP-9148 Meeting at Torgau The Germany city of Torgau is located on the banks of the Elbe River just 100 miles from the county's capital of Berlin. It is there that American and Soviet forces met on April 25, 1945 marking the end of World War II in Germany. Twelve days later, on … Continue reading VE Day in Color
Korea has long been known as the “Land of the Morning Calm”, a reference to the region’s natural beauty and tranquility. This tranquility has been belied by some seven decades of conflict, from the Korean War through to the present day. Today we will take a look at two different eras of that conflict from … Continue reading The Land of the Morning Calm: U.S. Army Films from the Korean War
Lighting the way for centuries, lighthouses continue to serve as a navigational aid for sailors at sea or on inland waterways. Lighthouses warn mariners of hazards such as reefs and rocks, guide ships to safe harbors, and help sailors establish their position. The Cartographic branch of the National Archives holds numerous drawings and maps of … Continue reading Lighting the Way: RG 26 Lighthouse Plans & Maps Now Digitized
On September 23, 1949, President Harry S. Truman released a brief statement to the press stating that within recent weeks, an atomic explosion had been detected within the U.S.S.R, signaling the start of a new arms race. In order to ease Americans' fears and coordinate civil defense strategies between the federal, state, and local governments, … Continue reading Duck and Cover in the Family Fallout Shelter: Civil Defense Preparedness in the Cold War Era
The following guide describes various methods that can be used when searching the National Archives Catalog for photographs. While photographs can be found in regional facilities and presidential libraries, for the purpose of this post, the methods focus on searching the Catalog for photographs specifically held by the Still Picture Branch. Keyword Searching Generally most … Continue reading Searching the National Archives Catalog for Still Photographs
