---
title: "For Marines’ Historian, It’s Semper FYI on Corps Lore"
date: 2025-09-15T10:00:00-04:00
author: University of Maryland
canonical_url: "https://terp.umd.edu/for-marines-historian-its-semper-fyi-on-corps-lore"
section: Articles
---
# For Marines’ Historian, It’s Semper FYI on Corps Lore

*September 15, 2025* — by [John Tucker](/authors/john-tucker)


- *Photo by John Tucker*

> Grad Leads Book Publication to Mark 250th Birthday

*Shawn Callahan poses in office*

**SIX THOUSAND COLLECTIONS** totaling 45 million pages. Four million photos, 35,000 audio files and 30,000 maps—not to mention 19,000 films, some recorded on Vietnam-era reel-to-reel tape machines as large as a mini-fridge.

The U.S. Marine Corps’ official archive lives in a half-acre, aggressively air-conditioned expanse within its Quantico, Va., base, and it’s the job of Shawn Callahan Ph.D. ’23 (above) to safeguard every document.

The director of the Corps’ History Division, Callahan preserves its past and promotes its story, sharing information with government officials and scholars and serving as the commandant’s primary adviser on historical matters.

“The History Division doesn’t just collect stuff and keep it in an old dusty room,” he says. “We’re dealing with things with immediate value.”

In August, the division published one of its most significant books, “Semper Fidelis: 250 Years of US Marine Corps Honor, Courage and Commitment,” to celebrate the Corps’ 250th anniversary on Nov. 10.


*naval aviator certificate — (Photo from the Alfred A. Cunningham Collection (COLL/3034) at the Marine Corps Archives and Special Collections. Official USMC photograph*




**Issue:** [Fall 2025](https://terp.umd.edu/editions/fall-2025)


**Types:** [Post-Grad](https://terp.umd.edu/category/post-grad)