• 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
  • Facebook
  • RSS
  • Twitter
  • 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

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 Finish Our 2022 Fundraising

Subscribe to New York Almanack

Subscribe! Follow the New York Almanack each day via E-mail, RSS, Twitter or Facebook updates.

Recent Comments

  • John Warren on Civil War in the Mohawk Valley: The Battle of Oriskany
  • Richard Daly on Poetry: Mention It, Don’t Insist
  • Norma Coney on Civil War in the Mohawk Valley: The Battle of Oriskany
  • David Forest on Knapp’s Folly: Sullivan County’s Columbia Hotel
  • John Jarosz on State Rebuilding of High Peaks Wilderness Roads Challenged in Court
  • Marlene V Thompson on Supporting the Poor in Saratoga County
  • Sue L on Hair Ice and Frost Flowers
  • dave on Catskills Resort History: The Beginning of the End
  • Stan Cianfarano on NY State, Counties Still Not Fully Engaged With American 250th Anniversary
  • William Mills on DEC & APA Defy The Courts And Keep Unconstitutional Trails Open

Recent New York Books

The Great New York Fire of 1776
The Sugar Act and the American Revolution
battle of harlem hights
Ladies Day at the Capitol
voices of wayne county
CNY Snowstorm book front cover
The Struggles of Boston's Black Workers in the Civil War Era
Expanded Second Edition of Echoes in These Mountains
historic kingston book

Secondary Sidebar

preservation league
Protect the Adirondacks Hiking Guide