U.S. AIR FORCE PRE-1954 STILL PHOTO COLLECTION

MOVED TO NATIONAL ARCHIVES
As of 1 January 1998, the U.S. Air Force's loan agreement with the National Air and Space Museum (NASM) terminated. The U.S. Air Force Pre-1954 Still Photo Collection has been transferred to the Still Pictures Branch of the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), and relocated to the National Archives facility at College Park, Maryland. The collection was physically moved to NARA at College Park on 12 January 1998 to become part of Record Group 342 and has been designated as Series FH. The NARA Still Pictures Branch opened the collection to researchers at its new location in February 1998. For access to and information about the collection, please contact NARA Still Pictures Branch.

NASM ARCHIVES REFERENCE SUPPORT
Although the collection has been physically moved to NARA, the NASM Archives Division can still provide some reference support to researchers interested in using the USAF collection. In addition to NASM Archival Videodiscs 3 and 4, which record television-resolution copies of the images in the collection, NASM also has produced a major-subject level finding aid, and has retained item-level caption information for about 30% of the collection. NASM can also translate old reference numbers into new NARA "citation" numbers.

Please contact the NASM Archives Reference Desk for assistance.

ORDERING REPRODUCTIONS OF USAF COLLECTION PHOTOGRAPHS
Photo orders for USAF materials can no longer be accepted by either the National Air and Space Museum or the Smithsonian Institution Office of Imaging, Printing and Photographic Services (OIPP). All requests for duplicate photographs of images in the U.S. Air Force Pre-1954 Still Photo Collection should be directed to the NARA Still Pictures Branch.

Researchers communicating with NARA or their vendors about a specific USAF image should use the following image reference number format (NARA "citation"):

342-FH-NASM Videodisc Number-USAF Negative Number

Example: USAF Negative Number 45903 AC, which is also NASM Videodisc Number 3B-44430, would be cited by NARA as: 342-FH-3B-44430-45903-AC.

REFERENCE NUMBERS USED IN THIS COLLECTION

• NASM Videodisc Numbers are used as print numbers in this collection. The reference prints are also frequently referred to as "book prints." Valid NASM Videodisc Numbers always begin with the prefix 3A-, 3B-, or 4A- (the videodisc number and side) followed by a five-digit videodisc frame number. About 15% of the images in the USAF collection do not have negative numbers assigned; for these images the NASM Videodisc Number is the only valid reference number.
  
• USAF Negative Numbers indicate that the image is either black-and-white or color. USAF numbers for black-and-white images will end with the suffix AS, AC, or USAF (the overwhelming majority use the AC or "Air Corps" suffix). USAF numbers for color images will begin with the prefix K (or occasionally KE).