Posts about searching and using the records at NARA.
Many of our NARA colleagues are historians and researchers themselves. In this post, written by Lopez Matthews, we have the opportunity to learn about a few current research projects our staff members are undertaking. If you'd like more information on any of these projects, leave a note in the comments and we'll make sure the … Continue reading Students Share Scholarly Research at NARA
Today's post is written by Tom McAnear, a processing archivist in College Park. Tom is participating in the Archival Development Program, an in-house multi-year training course for all of NARA's archivists. As part of my Archival Development Program (ADP) training I recently completed a 30-day rotation in June at the National Collection of Aerial Photography … Continue reading From College Park to Edinburgh: 30 Days with the National Collection of Aerial Photography
Today's post was written by Katy Berube, who spent her summer interning in textual processing. A U.S. President’s signature, Civil War veterans, and a 19th Century labor strike…oh my! Box 273 of the Appointment Files for Judicial Districts 1853-1905 (National Archives Identifier 734590) was the last box I examined for possible records of interest to digitize … Continue reading The Last Box
Some months ago I attended a book signing at Archives I by author and History Channel star, Brad Meltzer. It was on the occasion of his new book The Inner Circle, which has at its core an archivist and the National Archives. Brad is a big fan of NARA, archivists, and the records we keep. … Continue reading Brad Meltzer’s NARA Top Ten
Today's post is written by Anwar Thomas, an archives technician at Archives II. Processing and consolidating the Navy Deck Logs (National Archives Identifier 594258), in Record Group 24: Records of the Bureau of Naval Personnel, was an interesting project in my large criteria of archival experience. These logs are filled with many interesting hidden facts … Continue reading The Navy Deck Logs: Personal Experience
Our guest blogger today is Dennis Edelin, Chief, Forms Section at Archives I. On September 26, 2011, the National Archives began a preservation re-boxing project. The purpose of the project is to re-box the nearly 900,000 Soldier Certificate ("SC") Civil War and Later pension application files in our custody. Please note, these records are not … Continue reading Civil War and Later (SC) Pension Application Files Re-Boxing Preservation Project
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
Today's post is written by Erin Townsend, an archivist based out of Archives II who helps coordinate our digitization projects. This year marks the 50th anniversary of the establishment of the Peace Corps. Numerous events and activities have already taken place to commemorate this milestone, including programs at the Smithsonian Folklife Festival, 50th Anniversary World … Continue reading Happy 50th, Peace Corps!
Today's post is written by Denise Henderson. A few months ago, I was asked to locate a record about Pat Garrett, the famous sheriff who killed Billy the Kid in 1881 when cowboys and cattle thieves made the West wild and dangerous and a place in serious need of law enforcement. Understanding the index to, … Continue reading A few good lawmen
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
