Looking for a movie to watch? Our records are ready for their close-up. Check out these movies that have connections to records in the National Archives.
This holiday season you may be looking to settle in under a cozy blanket, pop some popcorn, and watch a movie. We’d like to share a few feature films that connect to records found in the National Archives.
Hidden Figures (2017)
The NACA (National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics) was the predecessor agency of NASA, founded in the World War I era to perform research related to aviation. After the Russians launched Sputnik, Congress passed legislation turning the NACA into NASA. While that legislation was being debated, the NACA desegregated. The West Area Computers Unit was a group of African-American
women who worked as human computers at what is now NASA's Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia. This memo, by officially dissolving the unit and reassigning its employees to other units at Langley, desegregated the facility.
Dorothy Vaughan was the group's supervisor. In the Hidden Figures movie, she was played by Octavia Spencer. In the film she's shown making the transition from being a human computer to working with electronic computers, and you can see that reflected in this memo, which reassigns her to Langley's Analytical Computing Branch.
Memo from NACA Associate Director Floyd L. Thompson to all NACA Installations Regarding the Dissolution of the West Area Computers Unit, National Archives Identifier81215360
Saving Private Ryan (1998)
The story of the search for the last surviving Ryan brother was fictional, but there are records documenting several tragic events concerning brothers during World War II.
The Sullivan brothers may be the most well-known case of lost siblings during
World War II. The five Sullivan brothers (Albert, Francis, George, Joseph, and Madison) served together as shipmates aboard the cruiser USS Juneau after requesting special permission from the Secretary of the Navy. They were all killed in action during or shortly after their ship was sunk by a Japanese sub on November 13, 1942. Of the crew of more than 600 sailors, only 11 survived. Read the stories of more families in the Pieces of History blog post from 2013, Spielberg Film Festival: Saving Private Ryan
The five Sullivan Brothers, all of whom were lost in the sinking of the U.S.S. Juneau, November 13, 1942. Acme., National Archives Identifier 535944
Oppenheimer (2023)
Scientists developed the technology for the atomic weapon during the highly classified project code-named “The Manhattan Project.” U.S. Army Col. Leslie R. Groves oversaw the military’s participation, while civilian scientist Robert Oppenheimer was in charge of the team designing the core
details of the first atomic bomb used in warfare in world history. Explore blog posts and records from the National Archives about The Manhattan Project:
Calutron Operators in Oak Ridge, Tennessee During World War II, National Archives Identifier 241166506
Apollo 13 (1995)
On April 11, 1970, the crew of Apollo 13 encountered an explosion when executing a routine stir of the oxygen tank. The explosion vented their oxygen tanks into space and the mission changed from a lunar landing to the life and death task of returning the astronauts to Earth.
You’ll findtextual records, photographs, and moving images of this mission in the Catalog, including records from the Richard Nixon Library. A film from NASA, Apollo 13: Houston, We've Got a Problem, tells the story of the mission and the herculean task of getting them home through contemporary film and audio, and interviews with the astronauts and NASA officials.
President Richard Nixon and Apollo 13 Astronauts Commander James A. Lovell, Command Module Pilot John L. "Jack" Swigert, and Lunar Module Pilot Fred W. Haise, National Archives Identifier34929666
The Six Triple Eight (2024)
The newest movie on our list, The Six Triple Eight is the story of the 6888th Central Postal Battalion. This battalion was the sole all African American battalion in the Women’s Army Corps (WAC),and they also were the only all African American, all women battalion sent overseas during World War II.
They worked in warehouses overflowing with mail for soldiers. Their motto “no mail, low morale” guided them as they worked seven days a week to ensure the mail could be delivered. Read more in The Unwritten Record blog No Mail, Low Morale: The 6888th Central Postal Battalion
Photograph of Women's Army Auxiliary Corps (WAAC) Captain Charity Adams Drilling Her Company at the First WAAC Training Center in Fort Des Moines, Iowa, National Archives Identifier 531334
Do you have a favorite movie connected to federal records? Email us at catalog@nara.gov and it may make our next list!
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