August 2025 – The Text Message
Month: August 2025| The Text Message
In late 1948, the Women’s Club of McKeesport, Pennsylvania, decided to devote one of its programs to developments in the field of communications over the previous half-century. To secure information to facilitate that discussion, on October 19, Lucille Robb wrote to the Department of State’s Office of Transport and Communications asking for information on the … Continue reading A View of Telecommunication in 1948: Past, Present, and Future| The Text Message
An earlier post discussed the collapse of the French attempt to initiate a film festival at Cannes in 1939, due to the outbreak of World War II. Getting that festival off the ground was an early p…| The Text Message
In January 1942, shortly after the United States was thrust into World War II by the December 7, 1941, Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor and the subsequent December 11 declaration of war by Germany, officials in the Department of State considered the issue of the U.S. attitude toward the Geneva Protocol for the Prohibition of … Continue reading Tell Us What You Really Think Mr. Secretary [Poison Gas Warfare], 1942| The Text Message
This fall I am going to be presenting a paper on the Navy’s development of the Hunter-Killer Submarine (SSK) and how they evolved the World War II submarine into more familiar submarines of today. …| The Text Message
Historic Route 66 – Historic Route 66 Road Sign (National Archives Identifier 7719468) Maybe you are thinking of a mid-summer vacation and you might have the desire to drive the “Mother Road,…| The Text Message
On November 30, 1908, Secretary of State Elihu Root and Japanese ambassador to the United States Baron Kogoro Takahira, in a process initiated by Takahira on October 26, exchanged diplomatic notes discussing the policies of the U.S. and Japan in the Far East – what has since been known as the Root-Takahira Agreement. The arrangement … Continue reading Advice from the President, 1908| The Text Message
Cannes. Glitz. Glamor. Film stars. Today, the Cannes film festival – formal title Festival de Cannes – is considered the epitome of the international motion picture world. The festival had an uncertain beginning. The first official French notification to the U.S. government of the planned festival arrived in the Department of State in the … Continue reading Calling “Cut” on the First Take at Cannes, 1939| The Text Message
On June 26, 1945, the Charter of the United Nations was signed in San Francisco, California. There are approximately 100 properties in the National Register files that contain the term “United Nations,” including the San Francisco Civic Center (National Archives Identifier 123858074), where the organizational meeting for the international organization was held in 1945. “The … Continue reading The 80th Anniversary of the Signing of the United Nations Charter (Properties in the Nation...| The Text Message
In late 1943/early 1944, Humphrey Bogart and his wife Mayo Methot went on an 2-1/2 month entertainment tour of military bases in North Africa and Italy for the USO. Their party also included actor Don Cummings and accordionist Ralph Hark. In addition to giving shows, Bogart and his wife visited hospitals and undertook other morale-boosting … Continue reading Private First Class Bogart| The Text Message
Today’s post is by Cody White, Archivist at the National Archives at Denver Many of us are probably guilty of it. I certainly was; letting my mind drift during a cataloging course in library school and doodling palm trees amongst my class notes. It seems for Virgil Milo Pinkley, who graduated from the Vanderbilt University … Continue reading Doctor’s Orders; Cucumber Boats? The Wind River Reservation Physician’s Medical Notebooks| The Text Message
Hunger enters stage right wearing a tight fitting black costume, a skeleton painted on the front and back. Hunger walks to the edge of the stage purposefully, then in a strolling fashion back to th…| The Text Message
Today’s post is by Rachael Salyer, Archivist in the Textual Reference Branch at the National Archives in College Park, MD. “I have travled this country over […] and want to get home” – …| The Text Message
Members of the US Olympics Team wave to spectators as they march into the LA Coliseum during the opening ceremonies for the 1984 Summer Olympics. Last Friday the torch was lit in Paris France to st…| The Text Message
This is the eighth in a series of occasional blog posts. So far this series of posts has made stops in Tokyo, Shanghai, Amoy, Calcutta, and Baghdad. The Army Around the World Flight, flew out of B…| The Text Message
Today’s post was compiled by the Special Access and FOIA Program staff at the National Archives at College Park, MD Portrait of FBI Director, ca 1953 (NAID 518187, Local Identifier: 65-HN-4649) In …| The Text Message
Today’s post was written by Addie Portela, an intern at the National Archives at Chicago. On Sunday October 8th, 1871, fire raged across the city of Chicago. Not quelled until Tuesday morning, fire…| The Text Message
Security overlooks ducks swimming in the White House Swimming Pool (National Archives Identifier 276564131) In the month of July, when the temperature is hot, people will find relief in swimming po…| The Text Message
This is the sixth in a series of occasional blog posts. When we last left the Army Around the World Flight, the planes were departing Amoy, China on June 8 heading for Hong Kong. From Hong Ko…| The Text Message
Today’s post is written by John C. Harris, Archives Technician at National Archives at Philadelphia with a special thanks to Michael Demofonte, Archives Technician, Archives II, Research Serv…| The Text Message
Today’s post is by Rachael Salyer, Archivist in the Textual Reference Branch at the National Archives in College Park, MD. End of First Phase Map of France, June 1944 (NAID 18558251) The Textual Re…| The Text Message
