This post was written by Harry B. Kidd, a volunteer at Archives II, for the volunteer newsletter, The Columns. In the spring of 1918, the German Army launched a major offensive in the hope of achieving a quick victory before the full weight of American Forces could be brought to the line.  Beginning in May [...]

“This is an American soldier – he is your friend.”  So read the leaflet prepared by the United States for use in Vietnam.  Underneath that caption, it pictured several American infantrymen advancing into combat. The time, however, was not the 1960s; it was mid-1945 and World War II in the Pacific was drawing to a [...]

Today’s post is written by Archives II volunteer Jan Hodges. Do you know what a shellback ceremony is? Chances are that unless you’re a Navy man or a relative, you probably don’t. It’s a ritual conducted aboard ship after it crosses the equator. And not just any old ceremony–one that becomes part of the sailor’s permanent record. The Reference Unit [...]

Our guest blogger today is DeAnne Blanton, reference archivist at Archives I. The Archives I Reference Section is pleased to announce our in-house digitization project in honor of the Civil War sesquicentennial.  During the course of the next five years or so, the 2,750 volumes comprising the Collected Record Books of Various Executive, Legislative, and [...]

Today’s post is written by Adam Minakowski, an archives technician who works with researchers in College Park. Opening a box of records in the Textual Research Room at Archives II, you expect to file folders stuffed with typed or handwritten documents.  Sure, you’ll sometimes encounter log books, photos, and maps, but these are still paper-based [...]

During World War II, many American military personnel, primarily aircrew, found themselves trapped behind enemy lines.  The MIS-X Section of the Captured Personnel and Material Branch of the Army’s Military Intelligence Service handled matters dealing with escape and evasion (E&E) out of hostile areas and intelligence operations relating to Allied prisoners of war.  E&E training [...]

Today’s post is written by Judy Luis-Watson, volunteer coordinator at Archives II in College Park, Maryland. During World War I (WWI), more than 12,000 American Indians served in the armed forces of the United States.  In the army, their many roles included serving as gunners, snipers, patrol workers, messengers, scouts, medical personnel, radio operators, as [...]

As Black History Month draws to a close, nothing illustrates the great progress of the civil rights movement more than a glimpse at a bleaker era. The work we do every day at the National Archives is for the express purpose of preserving historical context, even the disturbing parts, as exemplified in today’s post, written by [...]

As 2012 marks the 200th anniversary of the War of 1812, the Reference staff at Archives 1 want to provide a glimpse of some of the series that we have in our custody relating to this conflict.  The following list may assist researchers who want to locate records pertaining to the War of 1812.  Please note that this list [...]

In June 1954, Guatemalan president Jacobo Arbenz Guzmán was overthrown in a coup that was orchestrated by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and carried out by the Guatemalan exile Colonel Carlos Castillo Armas. Arbenz was targeted in large part because of his land reform policies that affected U.S. companies, namely the United Fruit Company. There [...]