The Women’s Army Corps Requests “The Pleasure of Your Company”

The Navy film How to Succeed with Brunettes teaches male officers how to behave like gentlemen, but what were the military’s expectations for the many female recruits? Once again, staff in NARA’s Motion Picture Preservation Lab and Special Media’s Motion Picture, Sound, and Video Branch were able to find the answer in the large accession … Continue reading The Women’s Army Corps Requests “The Pleasure of Your Company”

New Video Series from NOAA Now in the National Archives Catalog

Archives Specialist Marcia Kolko reports that descriptions for nine small series of video recordings from Record Group 370, National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) have recently been uploaded to the National Archives Catalog The series document a range of NOAA surveys and projects, including documentation of an emergency response drill in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary, images of … Continue reading New Video Series from NOAA Now in the National Archives Catalog

The Challenge of the Push-Pull Track

There are many sound systems that have been used for motion picture films over the years.   Some of the earliest relied on sound recorded to a disc or cylinder that had to be played back in sync with the film. Even after optical soundtracks became the industry standard,  there were multiple optical systems available. … Continue reading The Challenge of the Push-Pull Track

Digitization Activities

My first couple of blogs focused on born-digital and scanned images created by Federal agencies and accessioned to the Still Picture unit, but I’m now shifting gears and highlighting some of our in-house digitization activities. The main series I’m going to talk about can trace its roots back to 1974 when we received the first … Continue reading Digitization Activities

Hollywood Roundtable

This week’s guest post is from Richard Green, an archives technician with the Motion Picture, Video and Recorded Sound Division of NARA's Research Services, located in College Park, MD.  He is currently studying history and psychology at the University of Maryland and is looking forward to attending graduate school in the fall of 2013. The … Continue reading Hollywood Roundtable

Getting to Know Harry Truman

I’ve gotten to know President Harry Truman pretty well over the past year. I’m familiar with his opinions, mannerisms, and vocal cadence.  In some ways, he reminds me of my grandfather. How did I become so well-acquainted with our 33rd president? I’ve never met him and I’m no presidential historian, but I do work in … Continue reading Getting to Know Harry Truman