Prologue: Pieces of History

Today’s guest post was written by William B. Roka, a longtime volunteer at the National Archives in New York City. You can follow them on Facebook as they launch “Titantic Tuesdays” in the weeks leading up to the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic.

Since I’m a total history nerd, I was ready to do a little dance when I was allowed to examine some of the Titanic documents in the National Archives as part of my work as a volunteer researcher. But I was disappointed when I saw that most of the documents looked very mundane.

This collection documents the court cases brought after the ship sank. The Titanic’s owner, the Ocean Steam Navigation Company (better known as White Star Line), did not want to pay in full the hundreds of claims for compensation filed by survivors and relatives of victims of the sinking. But as I trudged ahead with my work, I soon realized how wrong I was.

As I examined the claims, I saw that each one had a story to tell. One in particular stuck in my mind. William L. Gwinn was a sea postal clerk working for the U.S. Postal Service (see widow’s claim below). At first I thought he was a regular passenger and maybe worked at a post office by a port. Then I remembered Titanic’s full name included the designation of RMS, Royal Mail Steamer.

When I looked at deck plans of the RMS Titanic, I saw a mail room and a post office! William Gwinn had been assigned to work in that post office. I knew that the Titanic carried mail, but I hadn’t known there was a post office aboard. Later, as I was looking into some other documents, I found contracts between White Star and the British government to carry mail.

The story of the Titanic’s Sea Post Office is part of the larger history of the transatlantic mail transport. The era of mail-carrying steamships started in 1839, when White Star Line’s archrival Cunard was awarded a mail contract. By 1859, post offices were being put onto steamships, but it was only in 1877 that White Star ships could use the much-coveted acronym of RMS. These mail contracts were a badge of honor. To make sure that the companies met the stringent requirements, the contracts had to be renewed every few years.

Excess Luggage ARC 278329, ReD 05705, National Archives at New York City

By the terms of White Star’s 1899 agreement, their mail ships had to be the fastest, largest, and most efficient. They were required to make a weekly mail run and could go no slower than 17 knots. These mail contracts were very lucrative. The 1907 revised version of the 1899 contract gave White Star Line annual compensation of ₤70,000 a year (worth tens of millions of dollars today) plus expenses. Well, White Star Line lived up to these requirements—they built what was at the time the world’s largest moving object with a respectable speed of 22 knots.

By the time Titanic left Queenstown, Ireland, its mail room was filled with 3,243 sacks of mail, which each held over 2,000 pieces of mail. Above the mail room on G Deck was the post office, where the five postal clerks worked 11-hour shifts sorting tens of thousands of letters a day.

The three Americans—John S. March, Oscar S. Woody, and William L. Gwinn—and the two British clerks—Jago Smith and J. B. Williamson—were sworn to protect the mail. They lost their lives fulfilling this duty. They were last seen dragging several sacks from the mail room up into the post office in a desperate bid to save the mail as the Titanic met its tragic fate.

Sadly, this fascinating history of transatlantic mails and the Titanic’s Sea Post Office remains an understudied subject. (The National Postal Museum does have an online exhibition dedicated to the Titanic’s mail and its clerks.)

I feel lucky that volunteering at the National Archives gave me a chance to look at the Titanic’s documents. I was able to learn something I had not known  before, but also realized that all documents—no matter how mundane-looking—have a story to tell.

Page from the claim filed against White Star Line by Florence Gwinn, widow of William Gwinn, Records of District Courts of the United States, RG 21, National Archives at New York City.

Page 2 of claim, National Archives at New York City.

Page 5 of claim, National Archives at New York City.

New York Giants football player Harry Carson dumping Gatorade (popcorn) on President Reagan with Nancy Reagan watching at the White House Diplomatic entrance, 2/13/87, C39093-5, Reagan Presidential Library via ourpresidents.tumblr.com

With Super Bowl Sunday just two days away, we’ve decided to call an audible and make today’s “Facial Hair Friday” into a “Football Friday.”

When the New England Patriots and New York Giants collide in this year’s Super Bowl, the two teams will be competing for more than just a National Football League championship. The winner will also receive a trip to the White House, a place that many gridiron greats have called home.

Football has a rich history at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

President Eisenhower was a standout halfback at West Point. Similarly, President Ford was a star at the University of Michigan, ultimately earning contract offers from the Detroit Lions and Green Bay Packers. As for President Reagan, he earned the nickname “the Gipper” after staring as Notre Dame’s George Gipp in the 1940 film Knute Rockne, All American.

Several Presidents have also remained loyal fans even after their playing days.

Gerald R. Ford, Jr., centers a football during practice at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, 1933. (Ford Presidential Library)

President Kennedy, who went out for the team at Harvard, once called legendary coach Vince Lombardi to ask if he would “come back to Army and coach again.” President Nixon, who played for Whittier College, was known for sending diagrammed plays to the Washington Redskins coaching staff during his Presidency.

Reagan had popcorn (instead of Gatorade) dumped on him by the triumphant Giants during their visit to the White House in 1987. And most recently, President George H. W. Bush took part in the coin toss prior to Super Bowl XXXVI in New Orleans.

So on Sunday when you finish off the chips and dip, the game is over, and you still want more football, don’t forget that we’ve got some at the National Archives. Check out these records on President Ford’s playing career at the University of Michigan as well as legal records on “dirty play” from the Eagles!



Photograph of President Truman tossing a coin in the air before the annual Army-Navy football game in Philadelphia, as the captains of the Army and Navy teams watch, 12/02/1950, ARC 200250

"Catalogers at the National Archives prepare for the transition to electronic records management."

We turned to a guest judge who knows paper records really, really well. Paul Palermo is the Director of Records Center Operations at the National Archives at Boston, MA, which provides storage for thousands of temporary Federal records.

Not all of the records created by the Federal Government are kept forever in the  National Archives. The majority of Federal records—about 95%—are considered “temporary” and are kept for set periods of time.  Paul and his team manage the lifecycle of these records. They store them, track them, pull them and  send them back to the creating agency if they are needed, and put returned records back on the shelf.  They also destroy nonpermanant records at the end of their lifecycle or make sure that other records go to the National Archives as permanent records. (You can read more about temporary records here).

Congratulations to Deirdre! Paul tore himself away from a busy job (see the paragraph above!) to choose your caption as the winner of last’s contest.  Check your email for a code to use for a 15% discount at our eStore.

Like our guest judge, the ladies above worked in Massachusetts. Unfortunately, if they time traveled to the present day, most likely they would be out of a job, since they worked for the American Writing Paper Company. This photograph by Lewis Hines shows them sorting rags.

Today’s photograph shows a man at work! Give us your wittiest caption in the comments below!

Your caption here!

Drawing of Hitler's upper jaw, March 18, 1946, from the report “Gen. Maj. Waffen SS, Hitler’s Dentist,” RG 319

Today’s guest post comes from Miriam Kleiman of the Public and Media Communications Office.

Before joining the Public Affairs staff, I was a researcher for the “Nazi War Crimes and Japanese Imperial Government Records Interagency Working Group.” I reviewed records of Nazi war criminals, including those recruited by the U.S. intelligence. Needless to say, this was not an upbeat task.

But one day I found a file that was astonishing and entertaining: a file on the arrest and interrogation of Dr. Hugo Johannes Blaschke, Hitler’s dentist.

(In my many years of research, this file was the first and only war crimes–related file that I ever copied and shared with my dentist, who has never mentioned it in subsequent appointments. )

Born in West Prussia and raised in Berlin, Blaschke studied dentistry at the University of Pennsylvania from 1908 to 1911 and was a member of Psi Omega Zeta dental fraternity. Yet Hitler’s Ivy League–educated dentist was arrogant and unbothered by World War II and its aftermath.

During interrogation, Blaschke criticizes Hitler, but not for war crimes. Instead, he blasts Hitler as a frustrating patient who delayed appointments, was careless about dental hygiene, and only called when he was in pain. Blaschke mentions the war as a side note, and only as it relates to Hitler’s stalling tactics.

Dated March 18, 1946, the report is part of a series on Hitler’s physical and mental condition. The report lists three reasons for this interrogation: “identification of Hitler or his remains,” “knowledge needed to expose those frauds who in later years may claim to be Hitler,” and, thoughtfully, “research material for the historian, the doctor, and the scientist interested in Hitler.”

Following Hitler’s suicide on April 30, 1945, the Russians claimed to find a fragment of Hitler’s jawbone and a dental bridge at his bunker. The U.S. Army hoped Blaschke would either confirm or deny that this was indeed a piece of Hitler’s skull.

Years before Hitler’s rise, Blaschke had opened his own office in Berlin in the fall of 1911. He was a dental officer with the German Army during World War I and then returned to private practice. In 1930, Herman Göring became a patient.

In 1934, on the recommendation of Göring, Blaschke was asked to treat the Führer for the first time because “Adolf Hitler had a toothache.” Blaschke performed a root canal, and the pain “soon decreased in intensity and disappeared completely overnight.” Hitler was pleased, and Blaschke climbed the ranks of the Nazi Party, joining the SS in 1935, becoming Sturmbahmführer (major) in charge of dental care for the whole SS, and then transferring to the Waffen SS, the elite paramilitary organization within the SS.

The Army Counter-Intelligence Corps interrogation started with an accounting of Hitler’s teeth. Blaschke noted numerous untreated cavities, crowns, and chipped teeth “with pieces broken off.” Hitler’s remaining original teeth were discolored and loose. He had gingivitis and needed extensive work. One of his incisors was broken. He had two old dental bridges and the arch connecting the bridges “caused annoyance because food particles got caught in it easily.” Hitler rejected a temporary replacement (until the new bridge was ready), fearing it might affect his speech.

Concerned that Hitler would have trouble eating solid food with a permanent bridge, Blaschke suggested a “removable prosthesis” that could be taken out at meals. Hitler stated that “for him as a vegetarian the fixed bridge would suffice, since he had a special kitchen at his disposal at all times” (presumably to prepare food that didn’t need to be chewed).

Eventually Blaschke and Hitler reached an understanding on dental care: “I agreed with Hitler that I would have to examine his teeth in intervals of three or four months at the most, since only constant supervision . . . could tend to avoid similar extensive work in the upper jaw.” This worked until the outbreak of the war. As the Third Reich extended its domination over Eastern Europe, Hitler was too busy for dental work. “Whenever I called I was told that treatment was not possible at the time, and that I should wait until notified,” Blaschke noted. “When I was finally called pain was present.”

While Hitler avoided regular checkups, he demanded Blaschke be on call for dental emergencies. Fortunately, Blaschke was willing to take his practice on the road. At the Wolfsschanze headquarters, “treatments were performed in a truck mounted dental station.” This complex, known as the Wolf’s Lair, was built for Operation Barbarossa, the 1941 German invasion of the Soviet Union. But Blaschke ignore the war and sticks to the dental facts, mentioning only that due “menace of air raids, a dental station was installed in one of the shelters.”

Blaschke was called to Reich headquarters in September 1944.  Hitler complained about incapacitating pain in his upper left jaw and “was bedridden” (the August 25 liberation of Paris by the Allies surely compounded the situation). Blaschke found a severe infection.

Blaschke insisted Hitler schedule a root canal on another tooth. Blaschke was ordered to report to the new Reich headquarters on December 16, only to learn that Hitler was preoccupied once again, and “since the offensive in the West had started that morning I did not treat him.” The event that distracted the patient? The Battle of the Bulge, Hitler’s Ardennes offensive.

Delaying tactics continued. Hitler only allowed Blaschke to clean his teeth. Blaschke last treated Hitler in mid-February of 1945. It’s unclear if that root canal ever happened.

After his release from captivity in 1948, Blaschke continued to work as a dentist in Nuremberg until his death at age 78. This file is from Records of the Army Staff, Counter Intelligence Corps collection (RG 319) at the National Archives at College Park. It was declassified in 1963, 17 years after the end of World War II.

A summary of Blaschke's work on Hitler's teeth, from the report “Gen. Maj. Waffen SS, Hitler’s Dentist,” RG 319.

World War I Draft Registration Card for Tyrus R. Cobb (ARC 641757)

Each January, as frost and snow cover baseball fields across America, the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum provides heartwarming news for fans of our national pastime. This is the season when the Baseball Writers’ Association of America elects new members from the ranks of retired ballplayers.

When the Hall of Fame was first established in 1936, its inaugural class of inductees included legendary ballplayers Ty Cobb, Walter Johnson, Christy Mathewson, and Babe Ruth. These were four of the most talented stars of the early 20th century—a collection of hitters and pitchers worthy of Major League Baseball’s highest honor.

And while all four ballplayers are best known for their statistics and individual accomplishments, they also distinguished themselves for patriotic actions off the field.

As World War I drew to a close in 1918, both Ty Cobb and Christy Mathewson served in France as part of the Chemical Warfare Service. Commonly referred to as the “Gas and Flame Division,” the unit  combated the virulent effects of German gas attacks.

Throughout the final months of the war, the two ballplayers took part in several dangerous training exercises. “Men screamed . . . when they got a whiff of the sweet death in the air, they went crazy with fear,” Cobb recalled in his 1961 autobiography. The effects of chemical warfare took a particular toll on Mathewson, who died in 1925 at age 45.

World War I Draft Registration Card for George Herman Ruth (ARC 641780)

Babe Ruth also registered for the draft during World War I, but he never saw active duty. This, however, did not stop “The Bambino” from displaying his patriotism. Ruth enlisted in the New York National Guard in 1924 as part of a public membership drive, ultimately serving three years as part of the 104th Field Artillery Regiment.

When World War II began, Ruth joined with Walter Johnson to help raise money for the war effort. The two legends participated in multiple fund-raising exhibitions during the war, including a 1942 game that helped raise thousands of dollars for the Army-Navy relief fund. Even when they were away from the diamond, both Ruth and Johnson continued their fund-raising efforts through the promotion of war bonds.

Since 1936, the National Baseball Hall of Fame has immortalized many other players who served America during times of war and crisis. This elite club includes the likes of Jackie Robinson, Ted Williams, and Joe DiMaggio, whose records can also be found in the National Archives.

For more about our baseball records, read “Beyond the Box Office” from Prologue magazine. To find out more about draft cards, war bonds, and baseball-related documents, search our records using Online Public Access.

This image of the USS Arizona from the National Archives appeared on the front page of Wikipedia on December 7, 2011. (ARC 5900075)

No, I’m not talking about January 18, when English Wikipedia went dark in protest of the House’s  proposed Stop Online Piracy Act and the Senate’s PROTECT IP Act.

(Just 10 years ago, having no Wikipedia would not have fazed me in the least. We still had a dial-up Internet connection, and I regularly visited a brick-and-mortar library for reference books and articles. How things have changed . . .)

No, January 18 made me think of the original Day of Infamy,  December 7.

Last month, I was contacted by NARA’s own Wikipedian in Residence, Dominic McDevitt-Parks, regarding Wikipedia, NARA, and the events of December 7, 1941. Although we are more than a month past the anniversary of Pearl Harbor, Wednesday’s events reiterates the significance of Wikipedia and reemphasizes NARA’s involvement with it.

In commemoration of the anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor, the featured article on Wikipedia’s main page was the ”USS Arizona.”

“Not only are there multiple NARA images on the article, it also includes two of the images that were digitized on request by Benjamin Christensen from Still Pictures,” McDevitt-Parks said. “They are the articles lead image, and then the second one down. The first one is really useful because it actually gives a full-length side view of the ship, unlike most other images.”

“When I met the primary author of the article, Eddie Erhart, at the Wikipedia in Higher Education Summit in July about a week after Ben digitized the photos, he came to the presentation I gave there about my work and was very appreciative,” McDevitt-Parks said. “He also promised to get the article promoted to featured status, a months-long process of collaborations and peer reviews, in time for the anniversary, and he did just that—it was promoted after an expedited final review. So, thanks again to Ben for all the work you did!”

McDevitt-Parks added that, normally, an article will receive between 20,000 and 50,000 click-throughs from the main page just on the single day they are featured, plus the several million views of the main page itself. The images themselves will likely each get a couple thousand additional click-throughs from the article as well.

It’s amazing how fast technology changes the way we perform our everyday tasks, how we learn, and how we do research. For example, in writing this article, I’ve used Wikipedia six times.

Through NARA’s continued involvement with Wikipedia and the great efforts of McDevitt-Parks, our nation’s historical records are available to millions of people with just a click of a mouse.

Are you ready to return to captioning? Can you rewrite history with a humorous twist? Well, we’re back! We’ve been scouring the digital archives looking for the finest photographs. We’re lining up guest judges. We’re setting aside the wacky, the wonderful, and the wordless images from our holdings.

And we’re looking forward to all your entries! The winner receives a 15% discount to the National Archives eStore and our undying admiration.

Here’s our first photograph for the 2012 caption season—put your best caption in the comments below!

Your caption here!

M. SGT Harold Maus of Scranton, PA, is pictured with a Durer engraving, found among other art treasures at the Merkers Mine. 5/13/45. (ARC 5757194)

Today’s guest post was written by Miriam Kleiman, who works in the National Archives Public Affairs Office.

George Clooney’s next film—which he will write, direct, and star in—is based on holdings from the National Archives! 

Clooney announced last weekend that his number-one priority is to make a film about the “Monuments Men,” a group of cultural scholars and historians who donned Army uniforms to serve the Allies by rescuing, identifying, and trying to return precious artworks looted by Adolf Hitler.

Clooney shared with the press that while the Monuments Men were not trained for combat, they did face live fire and even had to give orders. He offered a possible example: “Don’t aim your tank over there, that’s the Leaning Tower of Pisa!” And it will be a big-budget film, not a small artsy one.

Clooney is now working on the screenplay. The movie will be an adaptation of Robert Edsel’s 2009 book, The Monuments Men: Allied Heroes, Nazi Thieves, and the Greatest Treasure Hunt in History.

Edsel is no stranger to the National Archives. His work is largely based on National Archives records, including those of the Office of Strategic Services Art Looting Unit, images from the U.S. Army Signal Corps, and records of the Monuments, Fine Arts, and Archives branch of the Office of Military Government, U.S. Zone (Germany).

In Monuments Men, Edsel praises the National Archives as “a marvel to behold” and thanks “the many fine people at NARA” for their assistance. He has done extensive research here, and has spoken at National Archives public programs and press events. I’ve had the pleasure of working with him on a number of occasions and admire his commitment and dedication.

General Dwight D Eisenhower, Supreme Allied commander, inspects art treasures looted by the Germans and stored away in the Merkers salt mine. Behind GEN Eisenhower are General Omar N. Bradley (left), CG of the 12th Army Group, and (right) LT Gen George S. Patton, Jr, CG, 3rd U.S. Army. 4/12/45.

Among the National Archives holdings used by Edsel are Captured German Records including those of the Third Reich’s Einsatzstab Reichsleiter Rosenberg (ERR), which was organized under Reich Leader Alfred Rosenberg and ordered by Hermann Goering to confiscate Jewish art collections. The ERR unit was of particular interest to Hitler, who demanded that all confiscated works of art be brought to Germany and placed at his personal disposal.

The Nazis were meticulous record keepers. The ERR created leather-bound volumes to highlight their stolen treasures, update Hitler on their work, and serve as a catalog from which Hitler could choose art treasures for his planned Art Museum in Linz, Austria. Nearly 100 such so-called “Hitler albums” were created.

Alfred Rosenberg presented Hitler with a few of  these albums on the Fuhrer’s birthday in 1943, to “send a ray of beauty and joy into [his] revered life.” At the end of the war, the U.S. Army recovered 39 of these albums, which were first used by Monuments Men to help identify art work to be restituted and later used as evidence at the Nuremberg trials to document the massive Nazi art looting operations. It was believed that the missing ERR albums had been destroyed.

However, Edsel learned of additional surviving albums. At a press conference at the National Archives on November 1, 2007, Edsel announced the discovery of two original Hitler albums, and said that he would donate these volumes to the National Archives. 

Of course, Clooney’s upcoming film will feature a love story! Rose Valland was a member of the French resistance who volunteered at the French art museum Jeu de Paume and, Edsel wrote, “ingratiated herself with the Nazis . . . and, unbeknownst to them, spied on their activities” throughout the war.  Following the liberation of Paris, she shared this secret information with the Monuments Men. 

In the book, Edsel describes Valland as “an unassuming but determined single woman with a forgettable bland style and manner.” But I imagine her Hollywood depiction may be different! The National Archives has records on her, too, detailing her work with the Monuments Men to retrieve looted French artwork discovered by the 7th U.S. Army in tunnels under a castle at Neuschwanstein, Bavaria.

Edsel refers to the Monuments Men as “an unknown story.” Thanks to his work, and to George Clooney, these courageous men and women will be remembered.

Personally, I would be happy to meet and escort Mr. Clooney on a VIP tour of the National Archives. I’ll be waiting by the phone. As a public servant, it’s the least I can do for my country. 

For more information:

• National Archives holdings relating to Holocaust assets and looted art
• A Prologue article on the Merkers Mine and Nazi gold by a National Archives archivist
• incredible images of looted assets including artwork 
• Holocaust-related art provenance and research
• Robert Edsel and the Monuments Men 

Mug shots of the conspirators with vital statistics, 04/24/1929 (Department of Justice. Bureau of Prohibition. Seattle Office. ARC#298444)

As Prohibition commenced in 1920, progressives and temperance activists envisioned an age of moral and social reform. But over the next decade, the “noble experiment” produced crime, violence, and a flourishing illegal liquor trade.

The roots of Prohibition date back to the mid-19th century, when the American Temperance Society and the Women’s Christian Temperance League initiated the “dry” movement. In 1917, Congress passed a resolution calling for a constitutional amendment to implement nationwide Prohibition.

After the 18th Amendment was ratified in 1919, Congress followed with the National Prohibition Act. Commonly referred to as the Volstead Act, the legislation outlawed the production, distribution, and transportation of alcohol. Prohibition officially went into effect on January 16, 1920.

But while reformers rejoiced, famous gangsters such as Al Capone capitalized and profited from the illegal alcohol market.

From Los Angeles to Chicago to  New York, organized crime syndicates supplied speakeasies and underground establishments with large quantities of beer and liquor. These complex bootlegging operations used rivers and waterways to smuggle alcohol across state lines. Eventually, other criminal enterprises expanded and diversified from the bootlegging profits.

As organized crime syndicates grew throughout the Prohibition era, territorial disputes often transformed America’s cities into violent battlegrounds. Homicides, burglaries, and assaults consequently increased significantly between 1920 and 1933.

In the face of this crime wave, law enforcement struggled to keep up. Although three Federal agencies were tasked with enforcing the Volstead Act, bootleggers and smugglers operated with relative impunity. On the state and local levels, police were similarly overwhelmed by the power and influence of organized crime syndicates.

The precipitous rise in crime, coupled with the public’s opposition to the 18th Amendment, encouraged future President Franklin Delano Roosevelt to campaign on behalf of repealing Prohibition in 1932. Once in office, Roosevelt kept his promise. Prohibition was repealed on December 5, 1933, when specially selected state ratifying conventions ratified the 21st Amendment.

For more information about the Volstead Act, organized crime syndicates, and other Prohibition-era documents, search our records using Online Public Access.

Hon. Josiah B. Grinnell, Iowa, ca. 1860-1865 (ARC 526530)

Among our extensive collection of Mathew Brady photographs is this one of Josiah Bushnell Grinnell, whose sideburns appear to slide down his cheeks towards his cravat.

The Honorable J. B. Grinnell’s name may seem familiar if you have ever browsed college catalogs, or if you are an alum of Grinnell College, located in Grinnell, Iowa.

Although Grinnell was born in Vermont,  he packed up his sideburns and went West in 1854 to set up a Congregational church out in the wilds of the Iowa terrriroty. The town and college that he helped set up both bear his name.

After Iowa became a state, Grinnell served as a state senator and was a delegate to the Republican National Convention that nominated Abraham Lincoln for President. In 1862, Grinnell was elected to Congress.

Grinnell crossed paths with Horace Greely, whose neard has been featured on Facial Hair Friday before. Grinnell, along with ”Liberal Republicans” and Democrats, supported  Greeley for President—presumably for political reasons rather than a shared love of sideburns.

Gen. Lovell H. Rousseau, ca. 1860-1865 (ARC 528580)

But not all was peaceful in the world of politics and facial hair. On June 14, 1866, Grinnell was assaulted by fellow Representative and sideburn-lover Gen. Lovell H. Rousseau. The Kentucky man beat the unarmed Grinnell with an iron-tipped cane after an incident on the House floor when Grinnell disputed his Civil War record.

After a special investigation, the House cleared Grinnell but censured Rousseau. The former general resigned his seat, only to be reelected by his loyal constituents in the special election held to fill his space.

Both men left politics in 1867 when the 39th Congress concluded.