Today’s post was written by David Langbart, archivist in Textual Reference at the National Archives in College Park, MD. Revered diplomatic historian Walter LaFeber passed away recently. He wrote many important books, some that influenced the public foreign policy debate. They include: The New Empire: An Interpretation of American Expansion, 1860-1898 (1963); America, Russia, and … Continue reading Historian in the Records
Today’s post is by Dr. Greg Bradsher, Senior Archivist at the National Archives at College Park, MD. In 1944, Miriam Davenport Treo was employed by the Committee of the American Council of Learned Societies for the Protection of Cultural Treasures in War Areas to prepare maps and lists of cultural treasures for the Armed Forces … Continue reading The Adventures of Miriam Davenport, 1940-1946, Part II
Today’s post is by Shane Bell, Archivist at the National Archives at Atlanta. Leading up to the launch of Apollo 11 on July 16, 1969, NASA personnel, engineers, and contractors were not the only people who recognized the gravity of the occasion and the significance of project Apollo. Many United States citizens also felt they … Continue reading Dear Dr. von Braun: Eccentrics, Crack Pots, & the Moon, Part I
Today’s post was written by David Langbart, archivist in Textual Reference at the National Archives in College Park, MD Noted journalist Robert Sam Anson died on November 2, 2020. The obituaries printed in The New York Times and The Washington Post mentioned that he was captured and held by Communist forces in Cambodia while covering … Continue reading “Amazingly Poor Judgement”: Robert Sam Anson in Cambodia, August 1970
Today’s post is written by Dr. Greg Bradsher, Senior Archivist at the National Archives at College Park, MD. At Benedict, Maryland, in command of U.S. Colored Troops, on December 17, 1863, Union Army Lt. Col. Samuel Chapman Armstrong wrote, “we are fighting for humanity and freedom, the South for barbarism and slavery.”[1] Just three years … Continue reading Brevet Brigadier General Samuel Chapman Armstrong’s Civil War
Today’s post is written by Dr. Greg Bradsher, Senior Archivist at the National Archives at College Park, MD. In June 1908, the Scientific American reported on the death of Amelia Tyler. The periodical noted that she had died on May 23, at her home in Washington, D.C. and that her death “has caused widespread regret … Continue reading A Life Well Lived: Amelia Tyler of the Hampton Normal and Agricultural Institute and the United States Patent Office, 1832-1908
Today’s post was written by David Langbart, archivist in the Textual Records Division at the National Archives at College Park. Among the records of the Foreign Economic Administration (RG 169) in the National Archives are microfilms of the files of the USSR Branch of that agency. The records constitute the primary policy and subject files … Continue reading The Resurrection of World War II Lend-Lease Records on the USSR: A Story in Seven Parts
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
This is the third and final post in a three-part series on the Uncle Sam poster for the Security of War Information campaign. Today’s post is written by Daniel Dancis, an Archivist in the Textual Processing Branch at the National Archives in College Park, MD. In October 1943, Representative Harold Knutson (R-MN) charged the U.S. … Continue reading Propaganda, Politics, and the Personification of FDR: The Uncle Sam Poster Controversy
Today’s post is written by Dr. Greg Bradsher, Senior Archivist at the National Archives at College Park, MD. On November 27, 1941, Lt. Cmdr. Edwin T. Layton, Fleet Intelligence Officer, United States Pacific Fleet, met with Colonel Edward W. Raley and the Intelligence Section of the Hawaiian Air Force, to discuss the B-24 reconnaissance mission. … Continue reading Prologue to Pearl Harbor: The Spy Flight that Wasn’t, Part II
