Military Records

Photos, Film, Maps and Electronic Records - Marine Corps

refer to caption

Vietnam. Two F-4b phantoms of VMFA-542, Marine Aircraft Group-11, 1st Marine Aircraft Wing, DaNang RVN, on their way to targets in support of Marines working in Northern I Corps.

Special Media Collections 

The National Archives has several Special Media Branches that contain images, motion pictures, sound recordings, drawings, maps and electronic records that relate to the United States Marine Corps.  There are several online research guides relating to special media collections, and a few of the branches have digital collections available.

Still Pictures

The Still Pictures Branch has many images of ships, aircraft, bases, and personnel of the US Marine Corps dating back to  the earliest days of photography. Included below is a general guide to the Military Records held by the Still Photography Section, which includes references to how to research Marine Corps topics.

The following  article provides helpful information on how to conduct searches for photographs on the National Archives Catalog:

Motion Picture, Sound and Video Recordings

The Motion Picture, Sound and Video Recordings Branch has many films, videos, and records created by the US Marine Corps, including film footage taken by combat photographers during World War II and audio recordings. 

There are many digitized films and sound recordings that are accessible through the National Archives Catalog.  There are links to these digital resources off the main Motion Picture, Sound and Video Recordings Branch page, which you can view by following the links below. Note: You can refine these searches by record group in the “Refine By” section in the left-hand column.

The following link is a specific page devoted to World War II motion pictures, which includes a number of Marine Corps films:

Cartographic and Architectural Records

The Cartographic and Architectural Branch holds many older maps and charts of the US Marine Corps, which also includes base plans.

There are many digitized drawings, maps, and charts that are accessible through the National Archives Catalog. 

You can refine these searches by record group in the “Refine By” section in the left-hand column.

For general information on the Cartographic Holdings of the National Archives and Cartographic materials relating to the various wars, follow the links provided below:

And Cartographic materials relating to the Civil War and World War II -

Electronic Records

The US Government has been creating electronic records as early as World War II, with more and more of these records are coming to the National Archives as we accession records from the digital age. Information on the various series of electronic records that relate to the US Marine Corps can be found either on the National Archives Catalog or the Access to Archival Databases (AAD). 

The following link leads to a guide to of Frequently Asked Questions about how to research Electronic Records on the National Archives Catalog 

AAD

The Access to Archival Databases (AAD) is a collection of searchable databases of electronic records created by different agencies of the US government. 

Below is a selection of databases that relate to the US Marine Corps:

Some of these databases are stand alone sets of data, whereas some might have different sections that relate to different periods of time.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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