Today’s post was written by Cody White, Archivist at the National Archives at Denver. Campaigns. Dedications. Even family vacations. For one reason or another United States Presidents have found some excuse to visit the American West and scattered throughout the National Archives at Denver holdings are photographs of 11 presidents on just such trips. Some … Continue reading On the Road Again: Presidential Visits to the West, Part I
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
Today's post was written by Megan Dwyre, Archivist at the National Archives in College Park. Several species of shark have been known to attack a swimming man. Your chances of encountering one of these are not great…– Extract from "Survival on Land and Sea."[1] "Shark Attacks", a 1944 survey conducted by the Coordinator of Research and Development, U.S. … Continue reading An Unsuspected Foe: Shark Attacks during World War II
Today's post was written by Dr. Greg Bradsher and Dr. Sylvia Naylor, Archivists at the National Archives in College Park. Dr. Alfred Hentzen, on the staff of the Kaiser Friedrich Museum in Berlin, was mobilized into the German Army in mid-1942. While serving on the Intelligence Staff of a Panzer Division in North Africa, he … Continue reading The Kümmel Report
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)
By David Langbart The recent announcement that the United States and Cuba will establish embassies in each other’s capitals signifies the beginning of a second era of formal relations between the two countries. The first era lasted from 1902, when the U.S. sent its first diplomatic representative to independent Cuba, until January 1961, when the … Continue reading The End of the Beginning: The United States Breaks Relations with Cuba, 1961
This post was written by Chris Naylor, Director of the Textual Records Division. The devastating Germanwings plane crash on March 24, 2015 has reinvigorated the dialogue surrounding airplane cockpit doors, an issue of paramount concern both in 1970 as well as in the wake of the 9/11 attacks. I recently wrote a blog post about … Continue reading The Best Prophet of the Future is the Past, Part II: Cockpit Doors
By David Langbart June 18, 2015. The bicentennial of the battle of Waterloo, one of the most important events in early nineteenth century European history. At that battle, an Anglo-Allied army commanded by the Duke of Wellington combined with a Prussian army under the command of Gebhard Blucher and defeated the French army commanded by … Continue reading Waterloo!
By David Langbart Scholars and others use the series Foreign Relations of the United States (FRUS), the official documentary publication of American foreign policy, and other printed primary sources, as sources of easily-accessible documentation. Strict reliance upon published documents, however, can lead one astray if the point you are trying to draw is not the … Continue reading Led Astray by Published Documents
By David Langbart Airplanes filled the sky over Normandy, France, on June 6, 1944. D-Day. Some planes dropped bombs; some planes towed gliders; some planes dropped paratroopers; some planes dropped . . . paper. Paper in the form of propaganda leaflets. The propaganda was aimed both at the French and at the Germans. Two days … Continue reading Airplanes Over France, June 6, 1944
