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Follow the money: the origins of the Secret Service

Today’s post is by National Archives Volunteer Bill Nigh. This is the sequel to his earlier post. _____   In my first post, I briefly described the volunteer project based on the records of the U.S. Secret Service  (Record Group 87).  I stated that this organization began its presidential security mission following a presidential assassination, but its [...]

The U.S. Secret Service: It Took 42 Years to Protect the President

Today’s post (part one in a two-part series) is by National Archives Volunteer Bill Nigh. When I was assigned my first volunteer project, one associated with the U.S. Secret Service (Record Group 87), I wasn’t sure what to expect.  Like many my age, I picture the Secret Service agent climbing on the rear deck of [...]

African Americans and the American War for Independence

Today’s post is by Dr. Greg Bradsher. Englishman Nicholas Cresswell, during July 1777, wrote in his journal that the American army was composed of a “ragged Banditti of undisciplined people, the scum and refuse of all nations of earth.”  Baron Curt von Stedingk, a Swedish colonel in French service, described the American army in Savannah [...]

The Marines and Japanese Souvenirs on Guadalcanal August-October 1942

Today’s post is written by Dr. Greg Bradsher. On the morning of August 7, 1942, the Marines landed on Guadalcanal, relatively near an airfield that the Japanese had begun constructing, and the relatively small number of Japanese on the island melted into the jungle.  The following day the Marines began collecting Japanese souvenirs near the airfield. [...]

Seventy Years Ago: The United States Army Air Force’s 8th Air Force begins Bombing Operations in the European Theater of Operations, August-December 1942

Today’s post is written by Dr. Greg Bradsher. On the night of May 30, 1942, the Royal Air Force’s Bomber Command mounted its first “thousand plane” raid against Cologne and two nights later struck Essen with almost equal force. At this point the United States Army Air Force’s 8th Air Force was just beginning to arrive [...]

The Travels of two 16th Century Books from Germany to California, to Washington, D.C., and Back to Germany, 1945-2009

Today’s post is written by Dr. Greg Bradsher. Three years ago, on October 9, 2009, a former member of General Patton’s Third Army, in Room 105 of the National Archives Building in Washington, D.C. returned to the German Ambassador two 16th Century books he had taken from a German mine during April 1945. The story how [...]

A Brief History of the Nazi War Crimes and Japanese Imperial Government Records Interagency Working Group (IWG)

Today’s post is written by Dr. Greg Bradsher. I would wager that few NARA staff members, especially those hired during the past five years, and most researchers are familiar with the Nazi War Crimes and Japanese Imperial Government Records Interagency Working Group (IWG) nor its website: www.archives.gov/iwg. The website contains a wealth of valuable information not [...]

Seventy Years Ago: The Makin Island Raid, August 1942

Today’s post is written by Dr. Greg Bradsher. Some seventy years ago, this past August, the first major collection of captured Japanese documents in the Pacific Theater to arrive at Pearl Harbor were those captured in August 1942 when the 2nd Marine Raider Battalion, under Lt. Col. Evans F. Carlson, made a harassing raid on Makin [...]

Allen Dulles and No. 23 Herrengasse, Bern, Switzerland, 1942-1945

Today’s post is written by Dr. Greg Bradsher. Seventy-years ago, on November 9, 1942, forty-nine year old Allen W. Dulles arrived in Bern, Switzerland to head up the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) operations in Switzerland.  Dulles was lucky to be in Switzerland.  His train passed from Vichy France into Switzerland only minutes before the Germans [...]

An American Archivist at Ascona, Switzerland, October 1997

Today’s post is written by Dr. Greg Bradsher. One clear, chilly evening this week fifteen years I was alone in the foothills above the town of Ascona, Switzerland, wondering “how in the world did I end up here?” The answer begins in December 1996, in the wake of revelations about Switzerland having dormant bank accounts of [...]

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