The past Saturday, I was visiting the Florida Keys and took a bike tour of parts of Islamorada, a village which spans several islands. The meeting place for the tour was a memorial to the victims of the 1935 Labor Day hurricane located near mile marker 82 of U.S. Route 1. Our guide was very knowledgeable [...]

Today is Henry Dunant’s birthday, which is also celebrated as World Red Cross Red Crescent Day. In honor of that holiday, I thought I would mention some Red Cross records of historical interest that can be found at the National Archives at College Park, Maryland (Archives II) in Collection ANRC, Records of the American National [...]

What do Walt Disney, Ernest Hemingway, and Whitney Houston have in common? They all served with the American Red Cross! Disney served as a Red Cross ambulance driver in France during World War I. Likewise, Hemingway served as an ambulance driver in Italy during World War I. In fact, Hemingway’s service was the inspiration for [...]

During World War II, the American National Red Cross (ANRC) provided many services to enlisted men serving abroad in Europe and elsewhere. Importantly, they set up clubs for enlisted men to enjoy for recreational purposes in order to take a break from their wartime duties. One of these clubs was in Rome. In 1944, the [...]

On January 7, 1919, the same day the Christmas Uprising started in Montenegro, members of the American National Red Cross (ANRC) arrived in Montenegro to provide relief to civilians after World War I and the Austro-Hungarian occupation of the country. This relief effort was known as the Commission to Montenegro. This commission was part of [...]

Today’s post is written by Meghan Ryan, a processing archivist at Archives II. The American Red Cross and American Red Cross Women provided many different services to military personnel during World War II. One of the lesser known branches of the Red Cross from that time is the Clubmobile service. Clubmobiles were refitted buses and trucks, [...]

Today’s post is written by Meghan Ryan, a processing archivist at Archives II. The women of the American Red Cross played an important, and often under recognized role in World War II. The valiant efforts of Red Cross hospital volunteers are more frequently acknowledged, but American women served overseas in a number of other capacities – [...]

Today’s post is written by Onaona Guay, a processing archivist in College Park. Among the handmade ephemera of the September 11 Recovery Program records are a few professionally made items.  One of these items is an autographed photographic portrait of Rusty.  Following the September 11 attacks, many individuals volunteered their time and skills to the [...]

Today’s post is written by Onaona Guay, a processing archivist in College Park. One of the more unique items in the September 11 Recovery Program records is a cartoon sketch of Ground Zero and surrounding areas—referred to as “The Zone”—done on a whiteboard.  Although the National Archives receives records in a variety of media and [...]

Today’s post is written by Onaona Guay, a processing archivist in College Park. Banners and flags comprise a good portion of the September 11 Recovery Program records.  Some are handmade and some are signed.  One particular United States flag was recovered from the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City after the horrific bombing on [...]