Guest blogger Jan Hodges became interested in World War I combat art as a result of her involvement as a volunteer in a holdings maintenance project at the National Archives at College Park for Record Group 120, Records of the American Expeditionary Forces (AEF) Combat Forces 1918 – 1919. This is the eighth article in … Continue reading World War I Combat Artists – Andre Smith
by Judy Luis-Watson, Manager of Volunteer and Education Programs at the National Archives at College Park, MD The inclusion of a teacher, who would become the first private citizen in space, made the Space Shuttle Challenger mission especially exciting. This was the U.S. Government’s twenty-fifth space shuttle mission, twenty-four of which had been completed successfully. … Continue reading The Challenger’s Teacher in Space Project: Photos and Video
This post was written in collaboration with Kelsey Noel. "This is the lesson of the penny. Some have too many, Some have too few, But share with those who haven't any." … Continue reading Original Costume Sketches for a Production of Pinocchio, 1939
This year, Martin Luther King Jr. Day falls on January 18, the anniversary of a march that Dr. King helped lead from Brown Chapel A.M.E. Church to the Selma Courthouse for the purpose of voter registration. The marchers were not allowed to register, but this was just one skirmish in the Southern Christian Leadership Conference’s … Continue reading From Selma to Montgomery: The Selma Voting Rights Movement
Film Preservation 101 is an occasional series in which we answer our most frequently asked questions. Please submit your burning questions about film preservation in the comments below! What is Color Fading? Why are old films sometimes pink? The simple answer is color fading. This might seem a little confusing, since it looks like the film … Continue reading Film Preservation 101: Why are old films sometimes pink?
This post was written by Criss Kovac. Criss Kovac is the supervisor of the Motion Picture Preservation Lab. On January 6, 1941, President Franklin D. Roosevelt addressed the nation in the 153rd State of the Union Address. Known more popularly as the “Four Freedoms Speech,” he proposed four fundamental freedoms that all people should have … Continue reading FDR’s “Four Freedoms” Speech
This Christmas Eve, the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) will have tracked Santa Claus's journey around the world for 60 years. Colonel Harry Shoup began the tradition in 1955, after receiving a phone call from a child expecting to reach Santa Claus. The misdirected call was the result of the child reversing two numbers of a Santa … Continue reading Vintage Footage Reveals How NORAD Tracks Santa
This post was written in collaboration with Kelsey Noel. Kelsey is an Archives Technician with the Still Picture Branch in College Park, MD. This week we are highlighting images from RG 111-CCS, the General Subject Photographic Files of the Office of the Chief Signal Officer, which documents non-combat activities in the United States and abroad. These photos, taken … Continue reading Christmas on Base: 13 Images of Our Soldiers at Christmas
It’s the time of year when fireplace mantles are filling up with holiday cards and brown-wrapped parcels are delivered to doorsteps. The packages, letters, and cards we drop into mail-slots across the country contribute to an annual crescendo in the activities of the United States Postal Service (USPS). In the 2015 holiday season, the USPS … Continue reading Holiday Mail Call! A Package’s Path to You
In the past year, staff in the motion picture preservation lab handled nearly three million feet of film. Films might come to us for inspection and repair, photochemical duplication, or digitization. To follow up last year's list, we've identified a handful of films that were digitized in 2015 and found their way to our list of favorites. This year's list … Continue reading Favorite Film Finds of 2015
