“Blood and Determination and Then Victory” – Digitized Operations Reports Related to D-Day

Today’s post is by Rachael Salyer, Archivist in the Textual Reference Branch at the National Archives in College Park, MD. End of First Phase Map of France, June 1944 (NAID 18558251) The Textual Reference Branch at the National Archives in College Park, MD (Archives II) has custody of numerous records that document U.S. Army operations … Continue reading “Blood and Determination and Then Victory” – Digitized Operations Reports Related to D-Day

Doodled!

The files of the Department of State (RG 59) do not include a great number of documents with doodles.  Perhaps that means government officials do not scribble on the documents that get filed.  Alternatively, they do not file the documents on which they have scribbled. Recently, while undertaking ad hoc maintenance work on some records, … Continue reading Doodled!

Around the World in 175 Days, 1924: Department of State Contributions to the U.S. Army Flight Around the World: Part III: Japan

This is the third in a series of occasional blog posts.  This and the next posts will track the progress of the flight by presenting a few of the reports of U.S. diplomatic and consular posts along the route. After departing Seattle on April 6, flying through Canada and across Alaska (losing one of the … Continue reading Around the World in 175 Days, 1924: Department of State Contributions to the U.S. Army Flight Around the World: Part III: Japan

An Ugly American, 1924

The term “ugly American” was popularized by the 1958 book of the same name by William Lederer and Eugene Burdick.  It referred to certain types of behavior exhibited by some Americans in foreign lands.  These included being self-absorbed, arrogant, demeaning, thoughtless, and ignorant of local customs. An early example of such behavior is found in … Continue reading An Ugly American, 1924

Comedian in the Cross-Hairs: The FBI Investigation into Mort Sahl

Today's post was written by Gregory Tavormina, Archivist with the Special Access and FOIA Program (RF) at the National Archives in College Park, MD. Newspaper clipping from FBI file 94-HQ-51223-8 ([FBI Headquarters] - 94-HQ-51223 [Classification - Research Matters] [Mort Sahl] (NAID 365107580). It originally appeared in the February 8, 1960 New York Times article “Anyway, … Continue reading Comedian in the Cross-Hairs: The FBI Investigation into Mort Sahl

Around the World in 175 Days, 1924: Department of State Contributions to the U.S. Army Flight Around the World: Part II

This is the second in a series of occasional blog posts.    Even as the Department of State’s work on securing approval from Japan for the preliminary work on the Army’s around-the-world flight (see Part I), the Department of State was moving into the second phase of its work on the around-the-world flight: securing approval … Continue reading Around the World in 175 Days, 1924: Department of State Contributions to the U.S. Army Flight Around the World: Part II

Around the World in 175 Days, 1924: Department of State Contributions to the U.S. Army Aerial Circumnavigation: Part I

This is the first in an occasional series of blog posts. In September 1924, in an aerial trip reminiscent of the voyage of the U.S. Atlantic Fleet (also known as the “Great White Fleet”) around the world between December 1907 and February 1909, a team of U.S. Army airmen completed the first successful aerial circumnavigation … Continue reading Around the World in 175 Days, 1924: Department of State Contributions to the U.S. Army Aerial Circumnavigation: Part I

Escape and Evasion Reports, World War II

Today's post was written by Bob Nowatski, archivist in the Basic Processing and Textual Accessioning unit at the National Archives in College Park, MD. When we think of United States airmen in the European theater during World War II, we may picture rugged veterans who flew numerous missions, or soldiers who were killed in combat … Continue reading Escape and Evasion Reports, World War II

Sau Ung Loo Chan, An Advocate for American Citizenship and Immigrant Rights

Today's post is written by Ruth Chan, archivist and Subject Matter Expert for Asian American and Pacific Islander records Special thanks to Holly Rivet, Archives Specialist at the National Archives at St. Louis; Katie Seitz, Archives Specialist at the National Archives in Washington DC; and Victoria Blue, Public Affairs Specialist, for access to the records … Continue reading Sau Ung Loo Chan, An Advocate for American Citizenship and Immigrant Rights

When Will You Be In The Office (1959)?

Today’s Federal work environment features the flextime and flexplace policies that have evolved over the past several decades.  As a result, few current U.S. Government employees remember when agencies had fixed work hours.  Before the flex policies went into effect, start and end times for offices in Washington, DC, were staggered to spread out the … Continue reading When Will You Be In The Office (1959)?