George S. Patton kept a personal journal during his involvement in the 1916 Mexican Expedition. While serving as aide-de-camp to General John J. Pershing, he recorded many observations of the military campaign against Pancho Villa’s forces - everything from day to day activities, to the first use of airplanes by the U.S. Army in a combat roll and its last use of mounted cavalry. This is the first of many wartime diaries that Patton kept during his military career.
The Library of Congress Manuscript Division holds the papers of aviation pioneer Octave Chanute, which include correspondence between Chanute, George Spratt, and the Wright Brothers. These letters provide insights into their aeronautical experiments as they share ideas on wing design, lift, drag and other problems facing early experimenters.
World War I had a wide ranging impact on Europe and the United States particularly in the management of news, information, and propaganda. Join the Library of Congress Manuscript Division and author John M. Hamilton on November 10 at 12 noon for a discussion of the Committee on Public Information (CPI) and its influence on civil liberties, news gathering, and the issuance of propaganda in the United States and abroad.
Wilbur Wright’s letter to his sister describing of a 30-mile bike ride he took with his brother Orville in September 1892 illuminates an enthusiasm for bicycles and bicycling adventures that was a precursor to their pioneering work in aviation.
Less than three months after the Watergate break-in, the Committee to Re-Elect the President (CREEP) attempted to use NFL football as a political tool to further the president’s 1972 reelection campaign encapsulating Nixon’s innovative use of the sport for electoral advantage and underlining his aggressive approach to politics.
Introducing a new blog with stories from one of the world’s most extensive archives related to American history, the Manuscript Division of the Library of Congress.