The minutes from the Researcher Users' Group meeting on May 21st (PDF) are now available on the Archives.gov page for the Researcher Users Group at the National Archives in the Washington, DC Area. Please join us for the next meeting on Friday, June 25th, 2010 at Archives I in Washington, DC (room G-24). What topics would … Continue reading Minutes from the May 21st Researcher Meeting
Month: May 2010
Family Tree Friday: Preserving the integrity of original records…including the mistakes!
Recently, a colleague of mine received a reference request that highlights a common misperception some people have regarding original records. The request involved a researcher who complained that their family name had been misspelled on the 1930 census and they wanted the National Archives to “fix” the mistake. Now, most expert researchers know that original … Continue reading Family Tree Friday: Preserving the integrity of original records…including the mistakes!
Family Tree Friday: Vital Statistics in Military Records
In a previous blog post, my colleague Katherine talked about vital statistics that sometimes show up in federal records. I thought it might be worthwhile to point out that, under specific circumstances, vital records were also intentionally created by the government, particularly the U.S. military. In our vast collection of records relating to 19th-century military forts--all … Continue reading Family Tree Friday: Vital Statistics in Military Records
Agenda for the DC-Area Users Group Meeting on Friday, May 21st
Our next Users’ Group meeting will be held at National Archives at College Park, in lecture room C, on Friday, May 21, 2010, at 1pm The agenda for the meeting includes Briefing on Archives II Reference Studies Updates on: Presenting the “Know Your Records” series as webinars Current Digitization Activities We hope to see you there!
Join Us May 19th for an Archives Wiki Planning Meeting
We’re launching a public wiki pilot project that will allow researchers, historians, archivists, and citizen archivists to create pages on records or themes. We need your ideas and enthusiasm to make the wiki a success. Please join us for the second planning meeting at the National Archives in College Park, Maryland, on Wednesday, May 19th from … Continue reading Join Us May 19th for an Archives Wiki Planning Meeting
Join us for the next monthly DC-area researchers' meeting on May 21st at 1 pm
Please join us for the next meeting of the DC-area researchers' group on Friday, May 21, 2010 at Archives II in College Park in lecture room C. If you have any topics for the agenda please let us know here on NARAtions by May 19th and we’ll pass your ideas along to the Customer Services … Continue reading Join us for the next monthly DC-area researchers' meeting on May 21st at 1 pm
C and XC Pension Files for the Civil War
UPDATE: The custodial information presented in this post may be out of date. Please visit the Civil War Military Records Research page on archives.gov for information on how to order Civil War Pension Files. The following is a guest blog from Diane Dimkoff, director of the Customer Services Division. Most Union Army soldiers, their widows, or minor … Continue reading C and XC Pension Files for the Civil War
Family Tree Friday: Getting Started With Census Records
New researchers are always asking us how to start tracing their family tree. We have so many records that it’s very easy to become overwhelmed when you are beginning your research. We usually tell people to gather as much information about their family as possible, and to ask themselves how their ancestors interacted with the … Continue reading Family Tree Friday: Getting Started With Census Records
Researcher concerns about the digitized records available on the web sites of NARA’s digitization partners
Recently on NARAtions we heard from researchers who expressed concerns about the digitized records available on the web sites of NARA’s digitization partners. We shared these concerns with NARA's Access Programs office, NARA's Digital Strategies and Services Staff, and with our digitization partners and we would like to respond to these concerns here on NARAtions. Since 2007 … Continue reading Researcher concerns about the digitized records available on the web sites of NARA’s digitization partners
What do you call it when….
As the Archives.gov website redesign preparation continues, we're looking for your input on how to refer to NARA's vast collection of records. What would you collectively call all of the documents, photos, and videos that the National Archives stores? For example, would you call them holdings, collections, our catalog, an inventory, records, or something else? … Continue reading What do you call it when….