Today’s post is written by Tom McAnear, a processing archivist in College Park. Tom is participating in the Archival Development Program, an in-house multi-year training course for all of NARA’s archivists. As part of my Archival Development Program (ADP) training I recently completed a 30-day rotation in June at the National Collection of Aerial Photography [...]

Today’s post is written by Lopez D. Matthews, Jr., an Archives Technician in the Holdings Management Division at Archives II. Occasionally, as we work with records we come across a document that completely catches our attention. This was the case as we began describing the documents held in Record Group 498, the records of the European [...]

As the US involvement in World War II heightened, the nation faced many critical shortages. Certainly sugar and butter come to mind, as do images of children collecting bottle caps and pieces of glass. But “Mrs. Housewife” was called to her patriotic duty to conserve another good: household fats. The Conservation Division of the War [...]

  From 1943 to 1946, Colonia Santa Rosa in Guanajuato, Mexico was the site of a US-government sponsored home for Polish refugees. About 240 miles northwest of Mexico City and “10 minutes’ ride by mule-drawn tram from the Leon railway station,” the hacienda included a 39-room ranch house, a flour mill, ten wheat storage warehouses, [...]

Today’s post is written by Lopez D. Matthews, Jr., an Archives Technician in the Holdings Management Division at Archives II.  Celebrate Women’s History Month and discover the the WAC! The story of women in the military is one of strength and courage in the face of discrimination and doubt. Part of the story can be [...]

Today’s post is written by Lloyd Beers, a processing archivist who works with U.S. Navy records. Wartime has many faces and all of them are revealed in the records held by the National Archives and Records Administration.  The April 17, 1944 issue of Life magazine featured a more relaxed face with an article picturing U.S. [...]