One of our Motion Picture Preservation Lab staff identified a remarkable film in a recent accession of audiovisual material from the National Park Service (NPS). The film features amateur footage of George Washington Carver, the famed African American botanist and inventor who taught for decades at Tuskegee Institute (now Tuskegee University) in Alabama. During his … Continue reading Now Showing: George Washington Carver on Kodachrome
As Memorial Day 2018 approaches, we thought it would be appropriate to draw attention to a unique series in our Still-Picture Branch, RG 117-KDS, which covers a competition that took place in the 1980’s to design the Korean War Veterans Memorial. In 1986, the American Battle Monuments Commission was authorized to build a war memorial … Continue reading Looking Back at the Korean War Veterans Memorial Competition
This post was written by Tisha Mondal and Judy Luis-Watson. Tisha is a National Archives Volunteer and Judy is the manager of Volunteer and Education Programs at Archives II in College Park, Maryland. This post is dedicated to the memory of Rabindranath Tagore (May 7, 1861 – August 7, 1941). His words are as meaningful in … Continue reading On Finding Rabindranath Tagore
This post was written by Criss Kovac. Criss is the supervisor of the Motion Picture Preservation Lab. The statistics were overwhelmingly against them. With a million German troops and 40,000 anti-aircraft guns waiting the odds were roughly 50-50 they’d make it home alive. Completing 25 bombing runs lowered those odds to less than 25%. Not to … Continue reading Memphis Belle: The 75th Anniversary of the 25th Mission
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
This post was written in collaboration with Kevin Quinn, Sarah Lepianka, and Katherine Stinson - Archives Technicians in the Still Photos Branch. The 1918 Influenza Pandemic, also known as the Spanish Flu, was one of the deadliest events in human history. While fighting between the Allied Powers and the Central Powers raged on in Europe, … Continue reading The 1918 Influenza Pandemic (Photos)
Among the many treasures tucked away in the Archives is a series of maps known simply as “The Moll Atlas” (RG 76, Series 30). While the name might not initially scream “excitement”, the Moll Atlas is breathtaking for not only its complexity, but the sheer beauty of the maps themselves. Unfortunately, this is not the … Continue reading The Moll Atlas: How the World Appeared in 1721
When scanning films in the National Archives Motion Picture Lab, we sometimes come across images that we want to learn more about. We recently transferred several reels of unedited footage depicting African American college students in various classroom settings. The posters on the wall indicated that the footage had been shot during wartime. The slates … Continue reading Stock Footage Spotlight: Historically Black Colleges and Universities in WWII
This post was written in collaboration with Beth Fortson. "I'd feel like a quitter if I left the service now." - Wren Josephine Mary Kennelly This Valentine's Day, the Still Picture Branch would like to share a photo story from the series 26-G. This series is the subject of one of our ongoing digitization projects … Continue reading Spotlight: Wedded In Service
Take a look at the two movie screens in the photos below. Notice anything different? The screen in the color image, photographed in 1998, is much wider than that in the 1946 black-and-white image. Each screen has a different aspect ratio. Merriam-Webster defines motion picture aspect ratio as “the ratio of the width of a … Continue reading The Measure of a Screen: Motion Picture Aspect Ratios in the Archives
