Kellogg Company. Women inspecting filled boxes of cereal before boxes go to sealer. August 22, 1934. (Local ID: 86-G-5G-9, NAID: 522864) Every now and then when looking through a box of photographs in our holdings, a new potential “thread” of information will present itself that sparks curiosity for further research on a particular keyword. Sometimes it’s a subject or topic directly relating to the reference request I am working on, and sometimes it is completely random. Recently, the word “Breakfast” popped into my head and immediately following was the thought: I wonder what we have on that ..read more

Participants of the March on Washington, D.C. Local ID: 306-SSM-4C-35-4 August 28, 2023, is the 60th anniversary of the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, also known as the March on Washington. More than 200,000 people took part in the demonstration held on the National Mall to advocate for Black Americans’ civil and economic rights. This event is commonly viewed as the turning point in the civil rights movement when the American public came to see race relations as a national issue. Over the years, The Unwritten Record has featured many records related to the March on Washington for Jo ..read more

This week is International Assistance Dog Week (August 6-12) which was established to raise awareness and honor the incredible work that assistance dogs do to help individuals with disability related limitations. It was also created to recognize the trainers, puppy raisers, and handlers that have devoted their time and expertise to these dogs to ensure proper training and care. Here in the Still Picture Branch at the National Archives, we have a handful of photographs within our holdings that show these specially trained dogs aiding many individuals. Let’s give these dogs a big round of a-paws ..read more

“George Washington’s Tent,” 79-HFC-482 Without context, “George Washington’s Tent” may seem a bit odd even by the standards of government filmmaking. Three minutes of a man silently writing? (You can jump to 3:10 in if you want some action.) Further, it won’t take a cinematic expert to note that this work is one long take without either close-ups or wide shots! For the correct viewing experience, you will need a large tent and some dummies of Revolutionary War soldiers. We know about these unusual viewing circumstances thanks to the diagram below, which arrived at NARA as part of the productio ..read more

It’s time for us to return to one of our favorite topics—Cartoons! And not just any cartoons, but the animation produced for the United States Information Agency (USIA). You may already have joined us for our exploration of anti-Communist Mexican cartoons, animation and animatics by the “Walt Disney” of Thailand, or this psychedelic symbolic history of the United States. This time we will look at And Of Course You, a 1968 film about the global benefits of the Apollo space program. We’ll also introduce you to the prolific animators behind the film. During the Space Race of the 1950s and 60s ..read more

The Moving Image and Sound Branch is pleased to announce that the sound recordings of RG 267: Records of the Supreme Court of the United States have been fully digitized and are available for listening and download through the National Archives Catalog. The audio recordings in Record Group 267 are organized into three series,  Sound Recordings of Oral Arguments – Black Series, October 1955 – December 1972, Sound Recordings of Oral Arguments – Red Series, December 1972 – June 27, 2005, and Sound Recordings of Oral Arguments – Gold Series, October 3, 2005 – May 31, 2020. The Supreme Court B ..read more

May is Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, and in honor of this, we will be highlighting records related to the Chinse American watercolor artist, Dong Kingman.  The Moving Image and Sound Branch has two beautiful color films that capture the work of Kingman and show the process of how he painted his masterpieces.  These films are part of the Harmon Foundation collection, titled “Motion Picture Films on Community and Family Life, Education, Religious Beliefs, and the Art and Culture of Minority and Ethnic Groups, ca. 1930–ca. 1953”.  Artist Dong Kingman, 1950; st ..read more

On May 15th, 1973, NASA launched the first space station. The first three-person crew took up residence 11 days later. Over the course of roughly six months and three crews, Skylab served as a base for scientific research conducted in space. The astronauts’ schedule of experimentation and observation also included scientific demonstrations broadcast to Earth for use in high school curriculum as well as 19 student experiments, making Skylab the first space classroom. Skylab High School in Space (Local Identifier: 255-M-75-418) covers the incorporation of Skylab’s scientific demonstrations into ..read more

111-SC-176302 – Original Caption: [Company] E. of the 442nd Infantry Regiment comprising Japanese-American lads snapped in formation in Camp Shelby, Mississippi. 5/13/43. Photographer: Pvt. Raymond D’Addario. Signal Corps Photo #165–NR1-43-95. The 442nd Regimental Combat Team was activated on February 1, 1943, and was composed almost entirely of second-generation American soldiers of Japanese ancestry, also known as the Nisei. Later known as the 442nd Infantry Regiment–and also including the 100th Infantry Battalion—the unit fought primarily in the European Theater, specifically within souther ..read more

RG 77: Records of the Office of the Chief of Engineers, Lunar Maps, 1961–1962 (NAID 1077479) On April 3, 2023, NASA announced that humans are soaring back to the Moon for the first time in over 50 years, since the return of Apollo 17 in 1972. Four astronauts, Americans, Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and Canadian Jeremey Hansen, are set to embark on a 10-day journey aboard the Orion spacecraft in a mission NASA hopes will pave the way for sending the first astronauts to Mars. The mission, dubbed “Artemis II,” seeks to establish humanity’s first long-term presence on the Moon, and ..read more