Thomas Edward Lawrence is most famous for his action in the Arab Revolt against the Ottoman Empire in support of British forces in the Middle East during World War I, activity that won him the appellation of “Lawrence of Arabia.” T.E. Lawrence Lawrence was introduced to Arab language, culture, and history while doing archeological work … Continue reading Lawrence of Arabia: A View from 1939
Today’s post is by Cara Moore Lebonick, Archivist at the National Archives at St. Louis Bankston, Mary J. RG 92: Records of the Office of the Quartermaster General, Individual Deceased Personnel File, pg 6, NAID 330441288 Three of the four women interred at Normandy-American Cemetery and Memorial as a result of World War II deaths … Continue reading Return to Sender: Individual Deceased Personnel Files of the 6888th
Today’s post was written by Matthew DiBiase, an Archives Specialist from the National Archives at Philadelphia. The documents featured here are from the Interim Report of the Boston National Historic Sites Commission (led by Congressman and future Speaker of the House Thomas P. “Tip” O’Neill, Jr.) to the Congress of the United States submitted on … Continue reading The 250th Anniversary of the Battles of Lexington and Concord
South Carolina, Fort Sumter (National Archives Identifier 533429) Last Saturday marked the 164th anniversary of the start of the Civil War, which started on April 12, 1861, when the Confederacy bombarded the Union fort, Fort Sumter in South Carolina. There are a number of properties in the National Register, specific to the Civil War, including … Continue reading The War Between the States – Civil War sites in the National Register of Historic Places
Washington, DC, sitting as it does in the mid-Atlantic region, experiences hot and humid summers. Office buildings evolved to make the summertime work situation tolerable. By the early twentieth century, many government buildings had high ceilings, large windows, and opening/closing transoms over doors to allow air flow-through in an effort to make offices as comfortable … Continue reading Getting Ready for Summer in Washington
One of the more notable events in U.S.-Soviet relations during the Eisenhower Administration War was the American National Exhibit in Moscow from July 25 to September 4, in 1959. This was the scene of the so-called Kitchen Debate between Vice President Richard Nixon and Soviet Chairman of the Soviet Council of Ministers Nikita Khrushchev. The … Continue reading Sticky Fingers in Moscow, 1959
Today's post is written by Timothy Wilcox, an Archivist at the National Archives at Kansas City. Many born in the 1980s and after cannot recall a life without electronic visual media in vibrant hues. Few of us know the history that brought it to the masses. The advent of color television was a gradual process … Continue reading Standardizing Color Television Systems
Merchant Marine Vessel Logs for the Port of Boston; Muskogee, 12/31/1941 - 1/30/1942, Boston, MA (NAID 6991388) Today’s post was written by Katherine Terry, Archives Technician at the National Archives at St. Louis. The Sinking of the Muskogee The S.S. Muskogee was a merchant tanker built in 1913 by the Sun Shipbuilding Company in Chester, … Continue reading Faces from a Vanished Ship: The Life and Afterlife of the S.S. Muskogee
In October 1960, in the last months of the Eisenhower Administration, the Civil Service Commission announced the establishment of the Federal Woman’s Award for outstanding achievement by women in the Federal career service to be administered by the Board of Trustees, Federal Woman’s Award. The award was announced in the following press release: A pamphlet … Continue reading Recognizing Women in Federal Service, 1961
The major United Artists motion picture On the Beach came out in 1959. It was based on the 1957 novel of the same name by Nevil Shute. The book and the movie depict a post-apocalyptic world in the aftermath of a nuclear war. It was the first major movie about nuclear conflict and it threatened to … Continue reading More on preparing for the release of “On the Beach”
