Aviation – The UncommonWealth

Then You Owe Me a Drink!: W. W. Poland’s WWII Short Snorter

Recently Susan Chiarello brought in a very unusual item to be scanned for the Virginia World War I/World War II Commission—her grandfather’s short snorter. Measuring…

Trenton HizerFebruary 28, 2018

Newspapers

Air of Gloom: Orville Wright’s Ill-Fated Test Flight at Fort Myer, 106 Years Ago Today

On 17 September 1908, five years after the first successful flight at Kitty Hawk, Orville Wright and Thomas E. Selfridge test flew the Wright Flyer in a demonstration…

Kelley EwingSeptember 17, 2014

Archives Digital Projects

Kaine Email Project @ LVA – Tysons Tunnel Edition

This is the sixth in a series of posts spotlighting recently released email from Governor Tim Kaine’s administration. These posts are not meant to be comprehensive but to…

Roger ChristmanJuly 16, 2014

Newspapers

“Your Attention Residents, Now Arriving at Gates H and C, Dulles International Airport.” The Herndon-Chantilly Times (1958-1962).

I didn’t anticipate opening today’s “Fit To Print” blog entry in quite this manner but I stumbled on it mainly by chance and, for someone…

Henry MorseApril 10, 2014

Keep Your Eyes Aloft

Seventy years ago in Greene County, Virginia, civilian volunteers began to look toward the skies and record their observations in a log book, a simple…

Callie FreedNovember 6, 2013

Mr. Christmas and his Flights of Fancy

Former Local Records archivist Catherine OBrion was given the task of processing the chancery causes of Arlington (formerly Alexandria) County. Perhaps the most interesting case…

Callie FreedDecember 21, 2011