Here in the Still Picture Branch we most often work with still photographs. However, we also receive records from federal agencies that include graphic materials. For example, the Department of Labor Historian's Office recently transferred records to our department that include a series of WWI-era broadsides. Broadsides are single sheets with information printed on one … Continue reading Spotlight: WWI-Era Broadsides
Horsepower! We hear this common phrase everyday associated with everything from cars to lawn mowers to available human capital. It's all about power and the power to get things done. While today the term "horse power" typically refers to the power of an engine in a car or truck and is a single, compound word, … Continue reading Fire Up the Horses and Let ’em Run! Early Representations of Horsepower from RG 241: Restored Patents
The 6th Marine Regiment celebrates after playing a game of baseball. (From 111-H-1361) 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 … Continue reading Now Playing: Historical Films of the U.S. Army Signal Corps
75 years ago, from February 19th to March 26th, 1945, the Battle of Iwo Jima raged in the Pacific Ocean. For 35 days, American and Japanese forces fought for control of the strategically important island. That battle produced one of the most iconic images of war, a photograph taken four days into the battle by … Continue reading Uncommon Valor: The Making of the Marine Corps Memorial
Still frame from Chicks to Order vs. still frame from Chicks Made to Order In the early days of cinema, no one knew if it was possible to copyright a movie. This sounds strange to us today, but at the time copyright law only covered written works and photographs. Is a movie like a written … Continue reading Pioneers of Movie Piracy and the Expansion of Copyright Law
This blog was composed by Todd Crumley and Aaron Arthur This series of color transparencies documents the 555th Parachute Infantry Battalion, the U.S. Army’s first African-American paratrooper unit, and their participation in Operation Firefly. Firefly was initiated in response to the threat of potential wildfires caused by Japanese balloon bombs arriving on the west coast beginning in … Continue reading The Triple Nickles and Operation Firefly
We are very excited to announce that all of the maps in the US File Unit RG 77: Civil Works Map File have now been digitized and are available online for viewing and download! These images can be found by searching the National Archives Catalog, NAID #7491452. The records in this series comprised the main … Continue reading Now Available Online: RG 77, Civil Works Map Files, US File Unit!
The Cartographic Branch holds aerial imagery covering much of the United States and also many areas around the world. Today's post will focus on getting started with aerial imagery covering the United States, and specifically, Record Group (RG) 145 imagery. For more information on locating foreign aerial photography, see our previous posts: Researching Foreign Aerial … Continue reading Researching Aerial Photography of the United States : RG 145 Aerial Indexes Now Digitized
In what seems to be turning into a recurring theme, I’m back again to tame some of our wildest records here in the Still Picture Branch…this time, famed warhorse, Sergeant Reckless! As the de facto animal expert here in Stills, I’ve developed quite the nose for sniffing out hidden gems depicting our furry friends. Recently, … Continue reading Hold Your Horses
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
