Family Tree Friday: How to make sense out of a Civil War pension file…with some online help!

Have you ever looked at a Civil War pension file and wondered, what does this all REALLY mean? More specifically, have you ever tried to figure out what each document or slip of paper actually was, where it came from, and what relevance it had to the file as a whole?  Believe it or not, … Continue reading Family Tree Friday: How to make sense out of a Civil War pension file…with some online help!

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

Agenda for the DC-Area Researchers Meeting on February 18th

Have you marked your calendar to join us for the next DC-area Researchers Group meeting on Friday, February 18th?  We will meet at 1 PM in room G-24 of the National Archives Building in Washington, DC. The agenda includes: 1. A discussion of NARA's Transformation Plan (read more on the Archivist's blog) 2. An update … Continue reading Agenda for the DC-Area Researchers Meeting on February 18th

Family Tree Friday: Check out AAD for 20th century military databases.

As a way to wrap up the discussion about records relating to military service in the 20th century, it would be a good idea to check out the electronic records available on NARA's Access to Archival Databases (AAD) . AAD is an online resource available on the NARA web site at http://aad.archives.gov/aad/ and contains a … Continue reading Family Tree Friday: Check out AAD for 20th century military databases.

FEMA Photographs Now Online

On August 29, 2005, Hurricane Katrina made landfall along the Gulf Coast of the United States, displacing thousands of residents and causing billions of dollars in damage. Less than a month later Hurricane Rita caused further damage when it made landfall in Texas and Louisiana.  Pictures from these storms and others are captured in over … Continue reading FEMA Photographs Now Online

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!

Minutes from the November 19th DC-area Researcher Meeting

The minutes from the meeting on November 19th are posted below. The minutes will be posted on the web after the new redesign of Archives.gov is launched next week. Handouts Agenda The Text Message -- The Blog of the Textual Archives Services Division at Archives II I. Welcome Director, Access Programs Susan Cummings welcomed everyone … Continue reading Minutes from the November 19th DC-area Researcher Meeting

WiFi @ Archives I and II

Good news for DC-area NARA users- as of today, wireless internet is available to registered researchers at A1 and A2! This means that researchers with laptops and other WiFi-enabled devices will be able to access the online catalog, Ancestry.com, Footnote.com and other great sites via the free wireless connection in public areas of the Archives … Continue reading WiFi @ Archives I and II

Agenda for the November 19th DC-Area Users Group Meeting

We hope you will join us for the last DC-Area Users Group Meeting of 2010, this Friday, November 19th at 1 pm at the National Archives in College Park, Maryland, in lecture room B. The agenda for the meeting includes 1. a discussion of the Archives II Saturday pull pilot 2. an update on the … Continue reading Agenda for the November 19th DC-Area Users Group Meeting