This post was written by Andrew Smith and first posted to the National Archives Internal Collaboration Network. Andrew was a records analyst at NARA before departing for another agency. Explosions at the Federal Center Around noon on December 7, 1978, staff of the National Archives and Records Service (NARS) were eating lunch inside the offices … Continue reading Disaster Strikes the National Archives: The 1978 Nitrate Vault Fire
Former President George Herbert Walker Bush passed away on November 30, 2018 at the age of 94. At the time of his passing, President Bush had lived longer than any previous president. George H.W. Bush served as the 41st President of the United States from 1989 to 1993 and also held the position of Vice … Continue reading Remembering President George Herbert Walker Bush
From time to time, we find things among the archives holdings that are so unexpected that we just have to share them! The following images come from a series of maps that are currently in the process of being digitized to be added to the catalog. The maps below all contain examples of doodles and … Continue reading Oddments From the U.S. Series of RG 77: Civil Works Map Files
Five days before Thanksgiving 1943, American forces bombarded a tiny, Japanese-held island in the Tarawa Atoll. Eighteen thousand Marines would land on the shores of Betio, and over 1,000 would lose their lives there. On November 23rd, the United States claimed victory. Recording the Battle Three men of the 2nd Marine Division landed on Betio … Continue reading “The Camera Tells the Truth”: Camera Rolls from the Battle of Tarawa
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
This Veterans Day, November 11th, is the 100th anniversary of the armistice of World War I. The armistice was not an official surrender by Germany, which would come several months later with the signing of the Treaty of Versailles, but was essentially the beginning of the end of the war. The Great War, as it is … Continue reading Captured on Film: Armistice Day 1918
November 11 marks the 100th anniversary of the conclusion of World War I. Fighting came to a close in Europe on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month in 1918 when Germany signed an armistice with the Allied forces. At the war's conclusion, over 70,000 American soldiers lay scatted in graves … Continue reading Newly Digitized Series : Initial Burial Plats for World War I American Soldiers
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
The NASA Science and Engineering Series (255-SE) consists of footage of experiments and events associated with various programs including Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo. NARA staff have processed 5,848 film reels so far. Fortuitously, most of the films came to us labeled with excellent metadata including title, date, and location, or even with paper scene lists. … Continue reading Big Shot 2: A Shiny Space Balloon
With Halloween just around the corner, it seems like an excellent time to highlight some of the creepier Utility Patent Drawings lurking in the holdings of the National Archives. These come from Record Group 241. Enjoy! For more creepy patents, check out Corbin Apkin's Halloween Patent post from last year!
