• Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to secondary sidebar

New York Almanack

History, Natural History & the Arts

  • Email
  • RSS
  • Adirondacks & NNY
  • Capital-Saratoga
  • Mohawk Valley
  • Hudson Valley & Catskills
  • NYC & Long Island
  • Western NY
  • History
  • Nature & Environment
  • Arts & Culture
  • Outdoor Recreation
  • Food & Farms
  • Subscribe
  • Support
  • Submit
  • About
  • New Books
  • Events
  • Podcasts

Featured Collections: West Point Military Academy Photographs

September 25, 2022 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

Formation Review at West Point courtesy National Archives CatalogMore than 2,500 photographs taken at the West Point Military Academy in the early 20th century are now available in the National Archives Catalog.

Many of these photographs are uncaptioned or contain unknown subjects. The National Archives Catalog is looking for Citizen Archivists to add keyword tags to photographs in this series. The public can add tags to help identify people, topics, or subjects, making them more searchable and discoverable in the Catalog.

This series consists of images created by White Studio of New York City between approximately 1912 and 1934.

In 2017, the photographic negatives were transferred from West Point to the National Archives in College Park for storage, conservation treatment, and digitization of film found to be nitrate. The scans currently available in the Catalog are from some of the earliest film negatives in the collection.

Parade Participants Including Soldiers from African-American Cavalry Regiment courtesy National ArchivesThe collection features a variety of events and activities related to the West Point, including arrival at dormitories, parades and drills, marksmanship and firearms training, field training, infantry squad tactics and Air Service training.

Photographs include individuals as well as groups and locations. Many of the photographs are of cadets in training, however, there are also portraits of individual cadets and family members as well as photographs of instructors, visiting foreign dignitaries and sporting events.

Included within this series are photographs of African American Buffalo Soldiers serving at West Point, decades before the military was officially integrated.

The images were identified by a preservationist who was digitizing thousands of nitrate negatives transferred from the Academy to the Still Picture Branch of the National Archives. Recognized for their expertise in riding, African American cavalry noncommissioned officers of the 9th and 10th Cavalry Regiments were stationed at West Point to serve in the Academy’s Detachment of Cavalry and teach Academy cadets military horsemanship.

Starting in 1907, the detachment became a “colored unit” composed of African American soldiers during a time when the military was still racially segregated. The Buffalo Soldiers instructed cadets until 1947.

More information about these records can be found here.

Print Friendly, PDF & Email

Filed Under: History, Hudson Valley - Catskills Tagged With: Black History, Featured Collections, Highlands, Horses, Military History, National Archives, Orange County, Photography, West Point, World War One

Please Support The New York Almanack

About Editorial Staff

Stories written under the Editorial Staff byline are drawn from press releases and other notices. Submit your news to New York Almanack here.

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

Help Support The Almanack

PayPal, CashApp $NewYorkAlmanack orVenmo @John-Warren-363
Subscribe to New York Almanack

Recent Comments

  • Helen on Chinatown’s Mosco Street: A Last Remnant of the Five Points
  • Charles Yaple on New York’s Oldest Standing Log Cabin?
  • Ken Sacharin on Bill the Butcher: A Nativist ‘Know Nothing’ Movement Martyr
  • James Arnold on Bill the Butcher: A Nativist ‘Know Nothing’ Movement Martyr
  • Joseph Fratta on Chinatown’s Mosco Street: A Last Remnant of the Five Points
  • Frank Mosco on Chinatown’s Mosco Street: A Last Remnant of the Five Points
  • John DiNuzzo on Benedict Arnold Program Set for Lake George Village
  • Gene Porter on Benedict Arnold Program Set for Lake George Village
  • Gene Porter on The Road to Ticonderoga: The Campaign of 1758 in the Champlain Valley
  • James S. Kaplan on Abraham Lincoln’s First Thanksgivings

Recent New York Books

Whites of Their Eyes
Radicals and Rogues: The Women Who Made New York Modern
Road to Ticonderoga Campaign 1758 Champlain Valley
Birds of Happiness Aren’t Blue
The mayflower Rebecca Fraser
deep history
The Trials of Madame Restell
Made in New York by Frank Vizard
God Save Benedict Arnold by Jack Kelly
By The Shores of Solon Pond

Secondary Sidebar

It's That Time of YearWe Can't Publish Without Your Support

New York Almanack delivers to you each day.

We receive no public funds - we're supported only by readers like you.

If you enjoy reading the Almanack - if you find yourself more informed or entertained, please donate now at

Rally.org, via PayPal, CashApp $NewYorkAlmanack, Venmo @John-Warren-363

Or send a check to:

New York Almanack
7269 State Route 9
Chestertown, NY 12817

*Donations are not tax deductible.

Give Now

Don't Show Me This Message Again.