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!
This question just came in from a fan of the National Archives: Is there a consensus as to which presidential inaugural address was the best? I recognize that in this case "beauty is in the eye of the beholder" and it may be more accurate to think of the top five rather than single one … Continue reading Which presidential inaugural address was the best?
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!
This post was written by guest blogger David McMillen, External Affairs Liaison in the Department of Strategy and Communications. "Errors of opinion may be tolerated where reason is left free to combat it." - Thomas Jefferson In my last post I raised the question of the role of museums in a digital world. There are some obvious … Continue reading Eyewitness
Yesterday we made additional updates to the 1940 census site to correct issues with printing and downloading. I am please to write that researchers are able to search, view, browse, print, and download images as of midnight on April 4th. Demand on the site was almost three times higher yesterday morning than on April 2nd … Continue reading 1940 Census Update for April 4th
We apologize for the problems you encountered with the 1940 census web site yesterday. We share your frustration. There was extraordinary demand for the 1940 census records, with over 37 million hits in the first 7 hours on April 2nd. We have implemented changes so you can now search and view the census images. We … Continue reading 1940 Census Update
From coast to coast the National Archives is celebrating the 1940 census next week with events and workshops. We hope you will join us! The National Archives at Boston will be offering a program called "The 1940 Census is Here Today!" on April 2nd. Please email them at boston.archives@nara.gov for more information. The National Archives … Continue reading 1940 Census Events and Workshops at the National Archives Coast to Coast
This post was written by guest blogger David McMillen, External Affairs Liaison in the Department of Strategy and Communications. Phillip Dick’s 1974 novel with this title is one of best treatments of the blurring line between man and machine. You may know it from the film based on the novel, Blade Runner. When machines are indistinguishable from … Continue reading Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
This week is “Sunshine Week,” a week-long celebration of government openness! Here’s a roundup of activities you might want to do as you celebrate Sunshine Week: Participate in the Open Government Idea Forum on IdeaScale. Help shape the National Archives’ Open Government Plan. Your ideas and input matter! Participate in the Managing Government Records discussion … Continue reading How are you celebrating Sunshine Week?
Most archivists, librarians, and digital preservation folks love metadata -- and we at the Archives are no exception. Metadata is the sort of invisible information stored within or alongside a digital copy of something like a cool, older video about a NASA space flight. Metadata allows us to keep track of things in a detailed way. It … Continue reading Sharing the Video Metadata Love
