This post was written by Pamela Wright, Chief Innovation Officer. With billions of pages of records, there’s no question that the holdings of the National Archives are vast. The breadth can be intimidating to researchers and online users, especially first-time users, who may not have familiarity with the organization and management of archival material. One … Continue reading NARA’s Record Group Explorer: A New Path into NARA’s Holdings
If you are familiar with our Citizen Archivist program, you know that we encourage online volunteers to transcribe digitized historical records held in the National Archives Catalog. We often say that these transcriptions help unlock history by improving search results, readability, and access to historical records. So how exactly are your contributions unlocking history? A … Continue reading Transcriptions Reveal Life in the Trenches
Today's post comes from Kate Mersiovsky, National Archives Technician Since I’ve become an archives technician in the Innovation Hub Scanning Room at the National Archives, I’ve seen my fair share of interesting records. Researchers have digitized the pension of presidential widow Lucretia Garfield, the pension of Harriet Tubman, and the Supreme Court cases In Re … Continue reading Private Mohammed Kahn: Civil War Soldier
Today’s post comes from Meredith Doviak, Community Manager for the National Archives Catalog. Meredith recently spoke to Dr. Jaime Cantrell, Visiting Assistant Professor of English at The University of Mississippi. Dr. Cantrell has introduced undergraduate students to the importance of archival research and materials by encouraging them to become citizen transcribers for the National Archives … Continue reading Teaching from the Archives
Today’s post comes from Dina Herbert, Innovation Hub Coordinator. Dina recently chatted with Patrick Cronin and Thomas Neville about THATClass, their project-based archival education program for Washington, DC students. Tell me about THATClass. What do students learn by participating in THATClass that they wouldn’t necessarily get from their regular school year lessons? THATClass (The Humanities … Continue reading Hands-on Research with THATClass and the National Archives
Today’s post comes from Dina Herbert, Innovation Hub Coordinator at the National Archives in Washington, DC. I recently met Cindy Norton at the Innovation Hub in Washington, DC when she arrived to scan Civil War pension files. Once she started, she never stopped! We now see Cindy a few times a month; she even celebrated … Continue reading “BEWARE: It’s Addicting!” Citizen Scanning in the Innovation Hub
What excites us most is the potential for creative and unexpected uses of our API by the public, for any purpose.
Today is an important day for participation and innovation in the federal government. The White House officially launched the Federal Crowdsourcing and Citizen Science Toolkit, a tool that provides information and resources to help federal agencies use the power of public participation to help solve scientific and societal problems. The launch of this toolkit solidifies the … Continue reading Introducing the Federal Crowdsourcing and Citizen Science Toolkit
Today's post comes from Suzanne Isaacs of the Digital Public Access Branch in the Office of Innovation. Recently I met Alex Smith through an email he sent to catalog@nara.gov. Through our correspondence I learned that he began transcribing our records as a retirement project. I was really interested in transcription through the eyes of a Citizen … Continue reading Virtual Volunteering, Retirement Project 2.0
NARA is excited to participate in Government-wide Sunshine Week activities by launching our first Transcription Challenge in the National Archives Catalog! Here at the Archives, we like to say that there is a story in every box. Help us unlock those stories by transcribing the digitized records in the catalog. Our goal this week is … Continue reading Transcribe #1000pages for Sunshine Week
