The First Aeroplane Take Off from a Ship, November 14, 1910, Part I

Today’s post is written by Dr. Greg Bradsher, Senior Archivist at the National Archives at College Park, MD. This is the first of two blog posts about John Barry Ryan, Capt. Washington I. Chambers, USN, Eugene B. Ely, and the USS Birmingham, November 14, 1910. At the beginning of 1909 the number of airplanes in … Continue reading The First Aeroplane Take Off from a Ship, November 14, 1910, Part I

Cuneiform tablet

The Royal Archives of Ebla: Reference and Processing Archivists 4,000 Years Ago

Today’s post is written by Dr. Greg Bradsher, Senior Archivist at the National Archives at College Park, MD. Ebla Discovered During the summer of 1974, archaeologists at the excavation of the largest tell[1]in Syria, Tell Mardikh, in the process of removing debris from an ancient Sumerian palace, discovered forty-two clay tablets that appeared to be … Continue reading The Royal Archives of Ebla: Reference and Processing Archivists 4,000 Years Ago

Gordon Gilkey: A Man for All Seasons

Today’s post is written by Dr. Greg Bradsher, Senior Archivist at the National Archives at College Park, MD. At the beginning of my freshman year at Oregon State University, I went to see the Dean of the School of Humanities and Social Sciences (now Liberal Arts) to discuss with him the courses I should be … Continue reading Gordon Gilkey: A Man for All Seasons

The Percentage of Permanent Records in the National Archives: A 1985 Article Revisited

Today’s post is written by Dr. Greg Bradsher, Senior Archivist at the National Archives at College Park, MD. Thirty-five years ago the National Archives had a space problem. It still does, even with the opening of the National Archives at College Park, MD in 1994 (known to staff and researchers as Archives II or just … Continue reading The Percentage of Permanent Records in the National Archives: A 1985 Article Revisited

Three women working on exhibit cases.

The Freedom Train, 1947-1949

Today’s post is written by Dr. Greg Bradsher, Senior Archivist at the National Archives at College Park, MD. Early in my career at the National Archives, my branch chief assigned me the task of describing the records of the American Heritage Foundation, part of the National Archives Gift Collection. This sounded boring, and somewhat was … Continue reading The Freedom Train, 1947-1949

When the FBI Used a Stamp Collecting Club as a Counterintelligence Tool

Today’s post is written by Dr. Greg Bradsher, Senior Archivist at the National Archives at College Park, MD. In doing research in declassified Federal Bureau of Investigation records at FBI Headquarters in Washington, D.C., I ran across a file [105 -174254] describing a counterintelligence operation about a Chinese Communist stamp collecting club. Even though the … Continue reading When the FBI Used a Stamp Collecting Club as a Counterintelligence Tool

Appraising FBI Records in New York City and Los Angeles, 1981: A Personal Diary

Today’s post is written by Dr. Greg Bradsher, Senior Archivist at the National Archives at College Park, MD. In going through my papers I found that early in 1982 I had written a paper regarding the 1981 appraisal of Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) records by a team of National Archives and Records Service (NARS)[1] … Continue reading Appraising FBI Records in New York City and Los Angeles, 1981: A Personal Diary

Painting of the events of July 30, 1909.

The First Woman to Fly in an Aeroplane in the United States, October 27, 1909

Today’s post is written by Dr. Greg Bradsher, Senior Archivist at the National Archives at College Park, MD. The periodical Aeronautics in its issue of December 1909 reproduced the official log of all the aeroplane flights undertaken at the United States Army Signal Corps aviation field at College Park, Maryland between October 8 and November … Continue reading The First Woman to Fly in an Aeroplane in the United States, October 27, 1909

Image of signing ceremony

The Lane Faison Personal Diary comes to the National Archives

Today’s post is written by Dr. Greg Bradsher, Senior Archivist at the National Archives at College Park, MD. On April 29, 2019, the good friend of the National Archives, Robert M. Edsel, on behalf of himself and the Monuments Men Foundation for the Preservation of Art, donated to the National Archives the 115-page handwritten personal … Continue reading The Lane Faison Personal Diary comes to the National Archives

Image of Plane in the sky

The United States Army Buys Its First Aeroplane, 1909

Today’s post is written by Dr. Greg Bradsher, Senior Archivist at the National Archives at College Park, MD. The United States Army wanting an aeroplane, in early 1908, signed a contract with Orville and Wilbur Wright to a acquire one. The contract prescribed certain tests that the aeroplane would have to accomplish before the Army … Continue reading The United States Army Buys Its First Aeroplane, 1909