Wings for This Man: Celebrating the Tuskegee Airmen

Please Note: Primary source documents used in this post may contain harmful language. See NARA’s Statement on Potentially Harmful Language. The First Motion Picture Unit When America entered the war in Europe in 1941, the country's greatest challenge was finding enough manpower to wage a two-front war. The country needed to quickly increase the number … Continue reading Wings for This Man: Celebrating the Tuskegee Airmen

These Dogs Deserve a Round Of A-Paws!

This week is International Assistance Dog Week (August 6-12) which was established to raise awareness and honor the incredible work that assistance dogs do to help individuals with disability related limitations. It was also created to recognize the trainers, puppy raisers, and handlers that have devoted their time and expertise to these dogs to ensure … Continue reading These Dogs Deserve a Round Of A-Paws!

Go for Broke: The 442nd Infantry Regiment

111-SC-176302 - Original Caption: [Company] E. of the 442nd Infantry Regiment comprising Japanese-American lads snapped in formation in Camp Shelby, Mississippi. 5/13/43. Photographer: Pvt. Raymond D’Addario. Signal Corps Photo #165–NR1-43-95. The 442nd Regimental Combat Team was activated on February 1, 1943, and was composed almost entirely of second-generation American soldiers of Japanese ancestry, also known … Continue reading Go for Broke: The 442nd Infantry Regiment

One Year Ago: Recognizing Amache National Historic Site

October 1945 photograph of Granada Relocation Center barracks. Granada closed for good on October 15, 1945. (NAID 539942) March 18, 2023 marks the one year anniversary of the signing of the Amache National Historic Site Act, which designated Amache National Historic Site as a park in the National Park System. President Joseph R. Biden signed … Continue reading One Year Ago: Recognizing Amache National Historic Site

Soldiers examining a hole, near a Liberty Ship, created by a Japanese bomb

Hole World

With my last blog, I may have inadvertently started a quest to bring Unwritten Record readers the most random finds from the Still Picture holdings.  Today, I present to you, Holes.  When I began brainstorming for this blog post, it was the first word that popped into my head (most likely due to me hitting … Continue reading Hole World

International Holocaust Remembrance Day

Political Prisoners in the concentration camp at Sachsenhausen, Germany. Local ID: 242-HLB-3609-25 International Holocaust Remembrance Day is commemorated each year on January 27. The United Nations General Assembly designated this day as it is the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau by Soviet forces. The purpose of International Holocaust Remembrance Day is to serve as … Continue reading International Holocaust Remembrance Day

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!

Camp Hale, Colorado: Training the 10th Mountain Division During World War II

Mountain Troopers carrying a Ski Cargo Sled (Local ID: 337-TNG-199-1) Found in the heart of the Colorado Rocky Mountains, the peaks and valleys that surrounded Camp Hale forged the elite soldiers of the 10th Mountain Division—the Army’s first and only mountain infantry division. During World War II, the soldiers at Camp Hale trained in mountain … Continue reading Camp Hale, Colorado: Training the 10th Mountain Division During World War II

A Wartime Wedding at Versailles

Photograph of the Chapel at Versailles. Local ID: 286-MP-FRA-02033. National Archives Identifier Number: 19978495. On December 16, 1944, only months after American troops liberated the area surrounding the Palace of Versailles, a wedding ceremony was held in the Chapel of the Palace of Versailles. This year marks the 78th Anniversary of the wedding of M/Sgt. … Continue reading A Wartime Wedding at Versailles

The Art of War

Still from US ARMY ARTISTS, 111-LC-55581 ABOUT THE FILM Working in the Special Media Division at the National Archives, we are used to seeing images of war captured by moving images and still photos. However, the US military also uses more traditional forms of artwork to document their operations and daily lives. All military branches … Continue reading The Art of War