All Stories

Katherine Stinson was the fourth woman in the U.S. to obtain a pilot's license. Encouraged by her sister Katherine's success, Marjorie Stinson decided to learn to fly.

Ruth Law enjoyed one of the longest and most colorful careers of early aviators.

Welding and fabrication specialist Meghann Girard takes us through the way she combined contemporary technology with traditional metalworking techniques to fabricate missing parts from our Lincoln-Standard H.S.

Women in the United States have long served their country and women aviators have been no exception.  Perhaps the best known efforts are those of the Women Air Service Pilots (WASP), formed in 1943, merging the Women’s Auxiliary Flying Squadron and Women’s Flying Training Detachment.  But before the WASP, women pilots, such as Ruth Law, Opal Kunz, Florence “Pancho” Barnes, and Mary Charles were determined to serve their country in whatever way they could.

May 2, 2019, marks the United States’ Days of Remembrance, the nation’s annual commemoration of the Holocaust.  Today the National Air and Space Museum remembers Dezsö Becker, a Hungarian aviator who served in World War I and died in the Buchenwald Concentration Camp in January 1945.

Even though we celebrate the 100^th anniversary of Armistice on November 11, 2018, the effects of World War I can be felt to this day.  In the Archives, there are still so many stories left to tell.  Many of our World War I collections are now digitized (some in their entirety) and you can continue to explore these stories on your own.

To American aviators and soldiers, the grave of Quentin Roosevelt became a shrine, his death a touchstone for service and sacrifice.

Letters home from the front reveal the personal side of wars.  On Armistice Day, November 11, 1918, marking the end of World War I, many American soldiers serving abroad were instructed to write victory letters to their fathers. As we move towards the celebration of the 100^th anniversary of Armistice Day, a pair of victory letters from France and Connecticut illustrate a different understanding between home and the front, armistice and peace. 

A guest post from the National Cryptologic Museum shares the story of two pioneering women cryptologists.

La Grande Illusion is widely regarded as a masterpiece of French cinema and is often cited as one of the greatest films ever made.