One thing that does not come immediately to mind when I think of the National Park Service (NPS) is the performing arts. I have been attending concerts at the Wolf Trap Center for the Performing Arts for decades. It is my favorite outdoor concert venue in the Washington, DC area. However, I am always a … Continue reading SPOTLIGHT: THE BLUE RIDGE MUSIC CENTER
On 9 April 1865, Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrendered his Army of Northern Virginia to Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Courthouse. Over the course of April and into early May, more and more Confederate commanders surrendered their armies, and on 10 May 1865, Union troops captured Confederate President Jefferson Davis. Three days later, at … Continue reading Brady’s Lens: The Civil War and the Mathew Brady Collection in the National Archives
On December 30, 1947, the United States Air Force (USAF) began the process of collecting and evaluating all facts related to flying saucers and other types of unidentified flying objects (UFOs). Between 1947 and 1969, 12,618 sightings were reported to the USAF program titled Project Blue Book, headquartered at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. Scientists and … Continue reading Aliens at the Archives
Today, April 18, marks the 75th Anniversary of the Doolittle Raid. The mission, named for its organizer and leader James "Jimmy" Doolittle, caused minor damage to its targets, but accomplished a great deal by boosting the morale of Americans still affected by the attack at Pearl Harbor and early Japanese victories. Flying 16 US Army … Continue reading Commemorating the Doolittle Raid
For those working with archival films, encountering film scratches is just part of the job. At the National Archives we care for films that range from pristine camera negatives with not a scratch to be seen, all the way to beat-up projection prints that look like they were rubbed with sandpaper. Scratches can be black … Continue reading Film Preservation 101: Scratch Hazards and Fixes
"To fill the skies of France with fighting aircraft--that was America's tremendous task. What we did and what we have accomplished of that task is here fully revealed for the first time" reads an intertitle slate from the film Our Wings of Victory which highlights the production of American-made aircraft during World War I. World War I was … Continue reading Spotlight: “Our Wings of Victory,” the Manufacture of Military Aeroplanes During WWI
April 6 marks the 100th anniversary of the United States’ entry into World War I, as well as the culmination of a massive digitization project from the National Archives. Through a generous donation made by an anonymous donor, the National Archives was able to digitize over 110,000 photographs and nearly 300 reels of film related to … Continue reading Accessing World War I Photos in the Digital Age
This post was co-authored with Kaitlyn Crain Enriquez. In this four part series, the Still Picture Branch will be introducing various methods that can be used while researching photographs of military units during World War II. The first part will focus specifically on Army photographs, but we will also cover Air Force, Navy, and Marine research in … Continue reading How to Research: Photographs Relating to World War II Army Units
Last July, while completing a training rotation in the Motion Picture Preservation Lab, I was tasked with inspecting the condition of film. Inspections are a basic operation the lab performs to ensure film holdings are properly handled and maintained. After spending most of my time with black and white film, I was excited when asked to inspect color footage. … Continue reading Youth Visits Our Nation’s Capital: A Glimpse of Spring 1939 in Washington, D.C.
For the past two years, the National Archives Motion Picture Preservation Lab has been digitizing a series of Army Signal Corps films as part of a larger project to commemorate the centennial of World War I. Meanwhile, technicians from the Still Pictures Branch and the Digitization Division have scanned tens of thousands of Signal Corps … Continue reading Shooting World War I: The History of the Army Signal Corps Cameramen, 1917-1918
