Pardon Our Dust…And Our Noise

This post was written by guest blogger Diane Dimkoff, Director of Customer Services On Friday evening February 17 and Saturday February 18, the National Archives will be converting to a new copy card system and also replacing most of its self-service copiers. Contractors will be connecting and then testing equipment to make sure all is functioning properly on … Continue reading Pardon Our Dust…And Our Noise

Family Tree Friday: 1940 Census – Following the instructions (of the enumerators!)

This week's blog post comes once again from guest blogger Diane Petro, Archives Technician in the Research Support Branch at the National Archives Building in Washington, DC.  Diane is working on reference activities relating to the upcoming 1940 census release. Researchers often go to the Instructions to the Enumerator when trying to interpret a question … Continue reading Family Tree Friday: 1940 Census – Following the instructions (of the enumerators!)

Updated Responses to Questions about the Robert M. Warner Research Center Reconfiguration Project

Presenters at the Researcher Forum meeting on August 18 responded to several questions about the Archives I Reconfiguration Project during the Q & A portion of the program, which they promised to look into further and supplement as follows.  Availability of Print and Online Versions of the U.S. Congressional Serial Set NARA purchased the Digital … Continue reading Updated Responses to Questions about the Robert M. Warner Research Center Reconfiguration Project

Archives 360°: “Keeping Humans in the Loop” in Chicago

Founded in 1936, the Society of American Archivists (SAA) celebrates its 75th anniversary this year. During the week of August 22, almost 1,800 archives professionals from all over the globe gathered in Chicago, Illinois for SAA’s annual meeting and anniversary celebration. Today's blog features my introductory remarks for SAA session #701 that I chaired, "New Perspectives for the 1940 Census" providing a quick history of innovative technologies used for processing and accessing census data.

Family Tree Friday: Online RIPs for Military and Civilian records

The more we interact with the public, whether at national conferences or NARA-sponsored events such at the annual Genealogy Fair, the more we hear how much researchers would like to see our finding aids available online.  Well, this seems like a good opportunity to point out that two of our most popular genealogy Reference Information … Continue reading Family Tree Friday: Online RIPs for Military and Civilian records

Tech Tuesday: Applied Research puts NARA "Out in Front" at NAGARA

At the NAGARA plenary address in Nashville a few weeks ago, I was asked to talk about NARA’s new Applied Research Division, which wandered into an explanation about why we haven’t been ERA Research for the past two years. Folks were encouraged to attend my 1940 Census session, featuring NARA research partners who are using cool smart tools to make sense out of scanned images—there was not an empty chair in the room, leading to fruitful discussions and promising collaborations…and that’s what you missed at NAGARA! Read the full story here...

Ask Away on #Ask Archivists Day!

The National Archives will be here to answer all your archival questions on June 9th!  Known as Ask Archivists Day, this worldwide event on Twitter will bring together the people who collect, care for, and research archival records in one space where questions from general research practices to whether a repository has your ancestor's information … Continue reading Ask Away on #Ask Archivists Day!

Birds of a Feather Flock Together: Blogger Meet-Up at the Genealogy Fair!

Are you a genealogy blogger?  Do you have questions for NARA, whether it be about blogging or records?  Then we have the event for you!  This year at the 7th Annual Genealogy Fair, The National Archives will be hosting a meet-up to bring together genealogist bloggers and spark some good conversation about the records you … Continue reading Birds of a Feather Flock Together: Blogger Meet-Up at the Genealogy Fair!

Attention All Researchers: Open Forum Tomorrow!

There will be an open forum researchers' meeting tomorrow, September 29, 2010 at Archives II in College Park, MD.  Archivist of the United States, David Ferriero, will be attending, so be sure to come by with your questions.  We will meet in lecture rooms A and B at Archives II at 1 pm. The agenda … Continue reading Attention All Researchers: Open Forum Tomorrow!