The Misadventures of a Soldier and His Bounty-Land Warrant

Heather Jager was a 2015 summer intern in the Archives 1 Reference Section in Washington, DC. During my summer internship, I came across an orphan document – a document that has been separated from its file. It was made of parchment that was dry and slightly rigid; its bottom half had been torn off at … Continue reading The Misadventures of a Soldier and His Bounty-Land Warrant

A Tale of Two Memos

Morgan Fox was a summer intern in the Archives 1 Processing Section in Washington, DC. During my internship in the Archives 1 Processing Section, I had the opportunity to work on various projects to help make records more accessible to researchers.  One of the first projects involved the creating of a folder list for a … Continue reading A Tale of Two Memos

Miscellaneous Records: Pest Control

Alyssa Tou was a summer intern in the Archives 1 Reference Section in Washington, DC. Most recently, I have been working on compiling a box list for a little-perused but quite interesting series in the Records of the U.S. Naval Observatory (Record Group 78). This series is known as the Records of Astronomical Observations Made … Continue reading Miscellaneous Records: Pest Control

I Can’t Believe It’s Not Oleomargarine

Today’s post was written by Jessica Lee.  She was a summer intern in the Archives 1 Reference Section, working with the Civil records team. During my internship, I have had the opportunity to work with archivists on different kinds of projects. For one assignment, I entered titles of various public and private laws and resolutions … Continue reading I Can’t Believe It’s Not Oleomargarine

Post Master General Letter about Nigerian Prince

History Repeating Itself: Mail Fraud Case 8011

Today’s post was written by Jessica Lee, a summer intern in the Reference Section, Civil records team at the National Archives in Washington, DC. In a previous blog post, I wrote about an interesting fraud case I discovered in the records of the Fraud Order Case Files, 1894-1951 (NAID 2660896).  That file pertained to the “White … Continue reading History Repeating Itself: Mail Fraud Case 8011

Scam Letter from White Wizard

The White Wizard Approaches (To Defraud You)

Today's post was written by Jessica Lee.  She's a summer intern in the Archives 1 Reference Section, working with the Civil records team. One of the projects I have been assigned this summer is to help create a finding aid for the approximately 10,000 fraud cases housed at the National Archives Building in Washington, DC … Continue reading The White Wizard Approaches (To Defraud You)

Baseball Patents

Today's post is written by archivist David Pfeiffer Yes, spring is here.  Major League Baseball’s opening day is Monday, April 6.  Finally.  It has been a long cold winter.  As Hall of Famer Rogers Hornsby once said “People ask me what I do in winter when there’s no baseball.  I’ll tell you what I do.  … Continue reading Baseball Patents

The Monuments Men in March 1945: Ronald Balfour and Walker Hancock

Today's post is written by Dr. Greg Bradsher March 1945 would be a busy and eventful time for the Monuments Men officers, as the Allied armies advanced into Germany.  This was especially true for two of them: Ronald Balfour and Walker Hancock. During combat operations in February 1945, Monuments, Fine Arts and Archives (MFA&A) officer, … Continue reading The Monuments Men in March 1945: Ronald Balfour and Walker Hancock

The Monuments Men During February 1945: Locating Repositories of Looted and German Cultural Property

Today’s post was written by Dr. Greg Bradsher, archivist at the National Archives in College Park. At the end of January, Lt. Gen. Omar N. Bradley, head of the 12th Army Group, wrote the G-5s of his four Armies (First, Third, Ninth, and Fifteenth) regarding the Monuments, Fine Arts and Archives (MFA&A) Specialist Officers and their … Continue reading The Monuments Men During February 1945: Locating Repositories of Looted and German Cultural Property

Operation Clarion: February 22-23, 1945

Today’s post was written by Dr. Greg Bradsher, archivist at the National Archives in College Park. In mid-September 1944 General Henry H. ( “Hap”) Arnold, commander of the U.S. Army Air Force, proposed that every available British and American airplane be used on some clear day to swarm all over the German Reich, attacking military objectives … Continue reading Operation Clarion: February 22-23, 1945