#usnationalarchives

During the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, Japanese planes bombed and strafed Hickam Field to prevent U.S. planes from following them back to their aircraft carriers. This photographic reproduction of a map of Hickam Field, by the Joint Committee to investigate Pearl Harbor, was treated in the conservation lab to stabilize it for display at the Congressional Visitors Center. Losses in the emulsion were consolidated and the document was encapsulated and mounted for exhibit.

[RG 128, Map of Hickam Field by the Joint Committee to Investigate Pearl Harbor]

Today is the #GreatAmericanSmokeout!

Although conservation staff doesn’t get to read every page they work on, this provisions shipment list from World War One on the U.S.S. Pasadena caught our attention. Rolled cigarettes were part of the military’s daily rations from World War 1 until the end of the Vietnam War. This particular WWI shipment contained a staggering 2,801,740 cigarettes from Lucky Strike and Omar brands. But by the 1970s, overwhelming scientific evidence of the health risks of smoking entered the national conversation and the government stopped including tobacco products in soldiers’ rations. Also included on the list were some sweeter treats, like Hershey chocolate bars, evaporated peaches and canned corn.

Many of these oversized records on thin paper were badly damaged, so NARA conservation staff surfaced cleaned, humidified, mended, sleeved and rehoused them in custom boxes to stabilize and protect the records for digitization and safe handling in the future.

[RG 92- Lists of Incoming/Outgoing Passengers]

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NARA archivist and subject matter expert, Elizabeth Burnes, will host a Twitter chat tomorrow, Tuesday, November 15th at 2pm ET/1 pm CT about immigration stories that can be found in NARA’s holdings. Join her and thousands of others on Twitter to learn about the history of race, U.S. immigration and nationality law. This is part of the #RightsAndJustice National Conversations series.

Have you ever wanted to experience the summer labs at Utah’s very own Sundance Resort? While we’ve transitioned these labs to digital platforms, we put together a few beauty shots from over the years as a part of the US National Archives’ #ArchivesVirtualVisit to give you an inside look.