Prologue: Pieces of History

Congratulations to Dave M! Our guest judge Lynn Bassanese of the Roosevelt Presidential Library chose your caption, as FDR “was a real Navy man and enjoyed an occasional cocktail so we think he would approve of our choice.” It’s unlikely President Roosevelt would have enjoyed the wartime cocktail being ladled out, though. The original caption [...]

When I voted to approve appropriations for the country’s highways, I didn’t think I’d have to build them! Last’s week winning caption goes to Marc, whose plowman did not expect to have quite such an active role in government. If you thought this looked like a victorious pursuit for these two well-dressed gentlemen, you would be [...]

It was impossible to decide if “Treeus” was funnier than references to Santa or poor drivers, so we asked for assistance from our guest judge Laura Brandt, who manages the Foundation for the National Archives Facebook page. After much agony, she decided that David T’s caption held the most humor and historical value. This two [...]

After a brief hiatus, Facial Hair Friday is back with a special Valentine’s week post! When Senator Thomas Hart Benton of Missouri wanted to encourage Americans to emigrate to the west as part of the Manifest Destiny movement, he decided that eyewitness descriptions of the landscape were necessary. So in 1842, Benton sent off his son-in-law [...]

This week’s winner is Tommy R! His clever caption combines the discoveries of the atomic age with a nifty Latin neologism. Tommy, we’ll be sending you a 15% discount for the National Archives eStore. The original caption tell us that “Sister Mary Helene ven Horst, science instructor at Marycrest College in Davenport, Iowa, teaches students [...]