Browsing, Serendipity, and a Titanic Discovery

Today's post is by Alan Walker, a processing archivist at Archives II. As a kid I was captivated by the sinking of the RMS Titanic. The drama of such a man-made behemoth falling victim to an iceberg and the scope of the human tragedy conspired to trigger the imaginations of this impressionable youth. I read … Continue reading Browsing, Serendipity, and a Titanic Discovery

Our Mission: The Missions of AID, Part II

Today's post is written by Alan Walker, a processing archivist in Research Services. Earlier I described to you the Overseas Mission records of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and our project to transform them from the unfortunate and inaccessible state in which they arrived at Archives II. These records have proven a time-consuming challenge for … Continue reading Our Mission: The Missions of AID, Part II

Our Mission: The Missions of AID, Part I

Today’s post is written by Alan Walker, a processing archivist in Research Services. Since 2010, the Record Group 286 Processing Team has been steadily transforming the 11,700 cubic feet of paper records of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) housed here at Archives II. A lot of preparation goes into such a massive project … Continue reading Our Mission: The Missions of AID, Part I

NARA’s 75th Anniversary – Discovering Our Own Records

Today’s post is written by Alan Walker, a processing archivist who works with civilian textual records. It’s NARA’s 75th Anniversary season, a perfect time to reflect on the impact which the National Archives has made on archival theory and practice in the United States. Spanning the continuum of archival administration, records appraisal, scheduling, accessioning, disposal, holdings … Continue reading NARA’s 75th Anniversary – Discovering Our Own Records