Way, Way Down Under: Exploring Mapping of the Earth’s South Pole

Living on the east coast of the United States, one gets used to cold mornings, grey days, blustery winds, and the occasional freak snowstorm.  Given the weather and the fact that January 17th, 2024 marked the 251st anniversary of Captain Cook’s crossing of the Antarctic Circle, it seemed like a really great time to highlight … Continue reading Way, Way Down Under: Exploring Mapping of the Earth’s South Pole

New Year’s Resolutions 101: Examples and Suggestions from Old Patents

Every year, around this time, many people’s minds turn towards New Year’s Resolutions.  Things like saving more money, learning a new skill, and better self-care are timeless classics when it comes to resolutions.  So, we here in the Cartographic Branch would like to offer up some patents related to resolution keeping, just in case you … Continue reading New Year’s Resolutions 101: Examples and Suggestions from Old Patents

Cartographic Digitization Spotlight

The Cartographic and Architectural holdings include over 15 million items, including maps, charts, aerial photographs, architectural drawings, patents, and ship plans. In an effort to make these vast holdings more accessible to the public, we are continuously working on various digitization projects. These projects cover some of our most popular records and allow access to … Continue reading Cartographic Digitization Spotlight

TVA: 90 Years Old and Still Going Strong

On May 18, 2023, the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) will celebrate its 90th Anniversary.  Though most of the records relating to the Tennessee Valley Authority reside in other departments and facilities within the National Archives, the Cartographic Branch has nine different series under the heading of RG 142: Records of the Tennessee Valley Authority, 1918-2000.  … Continue reading TVA: 90 Years Old and Still Going Strong

Mapping the Moon

RG 77: Records of the Office of the Chief of Engineers, Lunar Maps, 1961–1962 (NAID 1077479) On April 3, 2023, NASA announced that humans are soaring back to the Moon for the first time in over 50 years, since the return of Apollo 17 in 1972. Four astronauts, Americans, Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, … Continue reading Mapping the Moon

Patents Causing a Buzz!

Spring has sprung and the bees are a buzzin’! Beekeeping and bee hives have a long and interesting history. People have been collecting honey for thousands of years - starting out by simply foraging from wild hives. However, the first recorded instance of beekeeping was the ancient Egyptians. They created hives from hollowed out trees … Continue reading Patents Causing a Buzz!

RG 242: Target Dossiers Pertaining to the British Isles, 1938-1945 Now Fully Digitized!

The Cartographic Branch is pleased to announce that RG 242: Target Dossiers Pertaining to the British Isles, 1938-1945 (NAID 3371016) has now been fully digitized and is available for viewing and download through the National Archives Catalog. The records in this series are a subset of RG 242: National Archives Collection of Foreign Records Seized, … Continue reading RG 242: Target Dossiers Pertaining to the British Isles, 1938-1945 Now Fully Digitized!

Ho! Ho! Ho! Happy Holidays From the Cartographic Branch!

Ho! Ho! Ho! Happy Holidays from the Cartographic Branch! In the spirit of Christmas, with the help of RG 241: Utility Patents, we would like to offer up some guidance and general ideas surrounding Christmas trees and things to do this holiday season! Whether you are more into putting up and decorating the tree, wrapping … Continue reading Ho! Ho! Ho! Happy Holidays From the Cartographic Branch!

This Just In! Three New Series Relating to Puerto Rico Fully Digitized and Available Online!

The Cartographic Branch is pleased to announce that three new series of records relating to Puerto Rico have been fully digitized and are now available online for viewing and download through the National Archives Catalog.  The first series, RG 95: Map of Puerto Rico Showing Federal Land Management Activities, 1949-1949, (NAID 1011336) contains a map … Continue reading This Just In! Three New Series Relating to Puerto Rico Fully Digitized and Available Online!

Patent Drawings from Beyond the Grave

With Halloween just around the corner (at last!), I thought our readers would enjoy a little something spooky to get in the spirit.. or perhaps to get in touch with the spirit. Automatic writing, or psychography, as a means of communicating with the spirit world has been in use for almost a thousand years. However, … Continue reading Patent Drawings from Beyond the Grave