Calling Citizen Archivists to Crowdsource Video Captions!

One of the chief goals of the National Archives is making our records- regardless of format- more accessible.  Sometimes this means digitizing records and adding them to our catalog, but it also means creating ways for all US citizens to experience our collections.  Accessibility of videos for the hearing impaired is very important to us, … Continue reading Calling Citizen Archivists to Crowdsource Video Captions!

We Can Do It! Let's Get Indexing!

Have you signed up yet to index the 1940 census?  Volunteers have indexed just over 70 million names in the census.   Your help is needed to finish indexing the millions of names that still remain. How can you help? Join the 1940 Census Community Indexing Project at www.the1940census.com. To get started you will need to … Continue reading We Can Do It! Let's Get Indexing!

Help Create a Name Index for the 1940 Census!

  Calling all Citizen Archivists!  The 1940 census has been online for two weeks now.  We have heard many great stories about people you have found in the census.  We also know there are some of you who don't know where people were living in 1940 and therefore cannot search the census without an name … Continue reading Help Create a Name Index for the 1940 Census!

DC-Area Researcher Forum Notes Available from January 27 Meeting

Researchers are invited to read the notes of the Researcher Forum meeting held on January 27, 2012, which are posted to the DC-area Researcher Forum web page, http://www.archives.gov/dc-metro/researcher-forum/.  The main feature of the meeting was a demonstration of the newly launched Citizen Archivist Dashboard by Pamela Wright (NARA Chief Digital Access Strategist) and Meredith Stewart (NARA Open … Continue reading DC-Area Researcher Forum Notes Available from January 27 Meeting

Introducing the National Archives Transcription Pilot Project!

As part of the recently launched Citizen Archivist Dashboard, you can now participate in the National Archives Transcription Pilot Project.  By contributing to transcriptions, you can make these historical documents more accessible to the public. The transcription pilot features over 300 documents (about 1,000 pages) ranging from the late 18th century through the 20th century.  … Continue reading Introducing the National Archives Transcription Pilot Project!

Tag It Tuesday! Citizen Archivist Dashboard

Recently, the National Archives introduced the Citizen Archivist Dashboard where citizen archivists can crowd-source the records of the National Archives.  The Dashboard contains several "tagging missions" that feature records and images from our holdings including over 2800 images of  World War II posters, 483 photographs taken by photographer Lewis Hine, and the petition against the annexation of Hawaii which contains 21, … Continue reading Tag It Tuesday! Citizen Archivist Dashboard

'Tis the Season to Participate Online!

Throughout this holiday season, we encourage you to participate in the exciting activities featured on the Citizen Archivist Dashboard, which is available starting today. Check it out and try tagging, transcription, editing articles, uploading digital scans, and participating in contests all related to the records of the National Archives. We hope that you’ll share any suggestions … Continue reading 'Tis the Season to Participate Online!

DC Area Researcher Forum to be Held on January 27, 2012

We hope that you will be able to join us for the next meeting of the Researcher Forum on Friday, January 27, 2012, at 1:00 p.m. in Room G-24 at Archives I in Washington, DC.  Archivist David Ferriero will join us for a discussion of NARA’s Citizen Archivist program. A special feature of the program … Continue reading DC Area Researcher Forum to be Held on January 27, 2012

Online catalog now links to Wikimedia resources

A few weeks ago on The Text Message, I introduced Wikimedia's Wikisource project to you. A sister project of Wikipedia, Wikisource is a free repository of primary-source texts which are transcribed, proofread, and arranged—like Wikipedia—collaboratively by a community of online volunteers. It is my pleasure to announce that, since August 15, Wikimedia's presence now extends … Continue reading Online catalog now links to Wikimedia resources