What excites us most is the potential for creative and unexpected uses of our API by the public, for any purpose.
Category: Databases
Family Tree Friday: Immigration Records in AAD
A couple of weeks ago John wrote about the 20th century military records available on our website through Access to Archival Databases (AAD). Today, I want to talk about the immigration records that you can find in AAD. In the late 1970s, the Balch Institute for Ethnic Studies began compiling data from nineteenth century passenger … Continue reading Family Tree Friday: Immigration Records in AAD
Have you tried Online Public Access?
Online Public Access (OPA) launched to the public on December 27th. What is Online Public Access? It’s the public search and display for online access to our records or information about our records. What does it contain? OPA contains all of the data and most functionality from the Archival Research Catalog (ARC), all web pages … Continue reading Have you tried Online Public Access?
Online Public Access is now available!
The National Archives’ new search interface is now available! Check out Online Public Access at www.archives.gov/research/search! The National Archives’ flagship initiative in our Open Government plan is to develop online services to meet the 21st century needs of the public. Toward that end we have revamped our website, including taking a new look at how … Continue reading Online Public Access is now available!
Tech Tuesday: Machine Tags on Our Flickr Images
We joined Flickr last summer as a new way to share our photos with the public. These photos are also available via our online catalog, the Archival Research Catalog (ARC). From the iconic Mathew Brady Civil War photographs to the stirring images from the Environmental Protection Agency's DOCUMERICA endeavor in the 1970s, thousands of people … Continue reading Tech Tuesday: Machine Tags on Our Flickr Images
Open Government: NARA Releases Six Datasets
As part of the Open Government initiative, NARA recently released six datasets available for the first time as raw data in XML format. The datasets are: three editions (2007, 2008, and 2009) of the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) archival descriptions from the Archival Research Catalog (ARC) organization descriptions from the Archival Research Catalog (ARC) … Continue reading Open Government: NARA Releases Six Datasets
The National Archives and the Open Government Initiative
The National Archives is working on responding to the Obama Administration’s Open Government Directive of December 2009, which was issued to promote new lines of communication and cooperation between the federal government and the American people. The Open Government Directive is available at http://www.whitehouse.gov/open/documents/open-government-directive. Stay tuned for updates!
Tech Tuesdays
Thanks to your great feedback on our recent Family Tree Fridays and NARA Staff Favorite posts, we're considering introducing another specialized series here on NARAtions. This new set of posts, called Tech Tuesdays, would allow us to start a discussion about the cutting-edge technologies that are being developed across the archives field (a topic we're … Continue reading Tech Tuesdays
Question: If you could personalize your experience of NARA’s research Web pages and online catalog with a customized user account, what features would it include and how would they help you?
If you could personalize your experience of NARA’s research Web pages and online catalog with a customized user account, what features would it include and how would they help you? Our latest ARC update included a new feature called “My List,” which allows users to temporarily collect, print and email descriptions. These lists can be … Continue reading Question: If you could personalize your experience of NARA’s research Web pages and online catalog with a customized user account, what features would it include and how would they help you?
Question: Should we allow the public to tag descriptions in our online catalog? Why or why not?
NARA is in the very early phases of designing its next generation online catalog. Should we allow the public to tag catalog descriptions? Why or why not? Our current online catalog, the Archival Research Catalog (ARC), does not allow for tagging. Staff archivists can add subject terms from our authority list of approved subject headings (based on … Continue reading Question: Should we allow the public to tag descriptions in our online catalog? Why or why not?