Minutes from the May 21st Researcher Meeting

The minutes from the Researcher Users' Group meeting on May 21st (PDF) are now available on the Archives.gov page for the Researcher Users Group at the National Archives in the Washington, DC Area. Please join us for the next meeting on Friday, June 25th, 2010 at Archives I in Washington, DC (room G-24). What topics would … Continue reading Minutes from the May 21st Researcher Meeting

Join Us May 19th for an Archives Wiki Planning Meeting

We’re launching a public wiki pilot project that will allow researchers, historians, archivists, and citizen archivists to create pages on records or themes. We need your ideas and enthusiasm to make the wiki a success.  Please join us for the second planning meeting at the National Archives in College Park, Maryland, on Wednesday, May 19th from … Continue reading Join Us May 19th for an Archives Wiki Planning Meeting

C and XC Pension Files for the Civil War

UPDATE: The custodial information presented in this post may be out of date. Please visit the Civil War Military Records Research page on archives.gov for information on how to order Civil War Pension Files. The following is a guest blog from Diane Dimkoff, director of the Customer Services Division. Most Union Army soldiers, their widows, or minor … Continue reading C and XC Pension Files for the Civil War

Researcher concerns about the digitized records available on the web sites of NARA’s digitization partners

Recently on NARAtions we heard from researchers who expressed concerns about the digitized records available on the web sites of NARA’s digitization partners.  We shared these concerns with NARA's Access Programs office, NARA's Digital Strategies and Services Staff, and with our digitization partners and we would like to respond to these concerns here on NARAtions. Since 2007 … Continue reading Researcher concerns about the digitized records available on the web sites of NARA’s digitization partners

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

Join us Friday, May 7th for our first Archives wiki planning meeting

We're launching a public wiki that will allow researchers, historians, archivists, and citizen archivists to create pages on records or themes. We need your ideas and enthusiasm to make the wiki a success.  Please join us for the first organizing meeting at the National Archives Building in Washington, DC, on Friday, May 7th from 1-2 … Continue reading Join us Friday, May 7th for our first Archives wiki planning meeting

Participate in the Archives.gov Web Redesign Card Sort!

We are redesigning Archives.gov to make it easier and quicker for you to find the information you need as part of NARA’s Flagship Open Government Initiative.  We want your opinions to help us to develop a web site designed for participation.  Throughout the redesign process, we’ll be inviting you to participate by voting, sorting, commenting, … Continue reading Participate in the Archives.gov Web Redesign Card Sort!

Family Tree Friday: Nonpopulation Census Records – Mortality Schedules

Most genealogists are familiar with the federal population census records and begin their research with these records.  But did you know that the Census Bureau also took a series of Nonpopulation Census records between 1850 and 1880?  They included mortality, agricultural, industrial, social statistics and defective, dependent, and delinquent schedules. These censuses cover the 12 … Continue reading Family Tree Friday: Nonpopulation Census Records – Mortality Schedules

Question: What are some good examples of interactive historical timelines on the Web?

The internet provides lots of great tools and services to help genealogists and historians understand the evolution of relationships and events over time. From teachers to big corporations, researchers at all levels can benefit from these innovative new tools, one of the most effective of which is the interactive map or timeline. One example of … Continue reading Question: What are some good examples of interactive historical timelines on the Web?

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