September 11 Through the Eyes of Children

Today's post is written by Onaona Guay, a processing archivist in College Park. For those of us who lived through September 11, 2001, we will always remember where we were when our nation came under attack. 9:50 am.  I was just returning to our off-campus house from my first class of the day when my … Continue reading September 11 Through the Eyes of Children

10 Years Later: Remembering 9/11

The most asked question this weekend will be “where were you?”  I was living in Massachusetts and on my way to the doctor.  The news on the radio said that something, probably a small plane, had hit the World Trade Center.  By the time my appointment was over all hell had broken loose.  The odd … Continue reading 10 Years Later: Remembering 9/11

Wikimedia and the new collaborative digital archives

For today's post we are thrilled to open our blog space to NARA's Wikipedian-in-Residence, Dominic McDevitt-Parks. Everyone knows about Wikipedia (though there is certainly a lot of room for clarification of how it works in practice and why it is valuable for public history), so for this first post, I want to spotlight Wikisource, a … Continue reading Wikimedia and the new collaborative digital archives

Seamanship: A Report from the Navy Team

Today's post is written by Dale Jackson, an enthusiastic archives technician with the Navy Records processing team at Archives II. Hello, here at the National Archives we the Archives Technicians have had the opportunity to process, preserve, and repair historical military records, specifically from the United States Navy.  My undergraduate major is in Criminal Justice, … Continue reading Seamanship: A Report from the Navy Team

Image of Encarnacion Alzona’s passport application.

The “Re-Encarnacion” of NARA’s Records

Today's post is written by Monique Politowski, an archives technician who works on the NARA/Ancestry digitization partnership project in Silver Spring, Maryland. Millions of records have been converted to digital form since the partnership between NARA and Ancestry.com began in 2008, and some of the most popular records digitized as a result of this union … Continue reading The “Re-Encarnacion” of NARA’s Records

YOU, the People: Citizen Archivists and Digital Engagement

By Robin Waldman Today I had the pleasure of attending a program in the National Archives' William G. McGowan Theater called Are You In? Citizen Archivists, Crowdsourcing and Open Government that outlined some great projects that involve the public with making records available online. AOTUS Ferriero opened the program with remarks that described how President Obama's Open Government mandate … Continue reading YOU, the People: Citizen Archivists and Digital Engagement

The Navy Deck Logs

Today's post is written by Carrie Jones, Student Employee at the National Archives in College Park, MD. I have been with NARA for a year as a student and since I started, I have been working on the team that has been processing and consolidating the Navy deck logs in RG 24, Records of the … Continue reading The Navy Deck Logs

Image of aid worker with American Red Cross outfit.

Processing Records of the American Red Cross

By Jason Clingerman In March we begin processing the collection of American Red Cross records donated to the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) in 2009. This was made possible due to the closing of the American Red Cross’ Hazel Braugh Records Center and Archives in Lorton, Virginia. These records will be incorporated into NARA’s already existing … Continue reading Processing Records of the American Red Cross

Consumption Comes Back

Today’s post is written by archives technician Ingi House. Going through records, sometimes it’s a surprise what you can find right off the bat:  a cool name, a weird event, or even an interesting story.  But what lies underneath the obvious is sometimes even better.  All you need is a spark to start your mind turning … Continue reading Consumption Comes Back

If I Was in Charge…

By Denise Henderson We want to hear from our researchers!  Here’s your chance to tell us what record groups you would like to see us working on…if you were in charge! In the last few years, the archivists working in the Textual Archives Services Division at Archives II  have been involved in several large-scale processing projects.  … Continue reading If I Was in Charge…