State Fair, 10/1972. National Archives Identifier 545457 The second of our new strategic goals is to “Connect with Customers.” Having spent most of my career working with the public, customer service is a passion of mine. In my personal life I am always looking for exemplars—places where I am dazzled by attention to service, places which … Continue reading Be Bold: Connect with Customers
Photograph of Women Working at a Bell System Telephone Switchboard. National Archives Identifier 1633445. The first of our new strategic goals is to “Make Access Happen.” Increasingly, access means digital, online access. Our first goal has one objective, to make our records available to the public in digital form to ensure that anyone can … Continue reading Be Bold: Make Access Happen
In the video below, Jennifer Pahlka, U.S. Deputy Chief Technology Officer, invites you to make a difference and serve your country by applying to become a Presidential Innovation Fellow. This is the third round of the Presidential Innovation Fellows. Projects from the first two rounds included: making government data more openly available, programs to assist … Continue reading Help Us Innovate!
The Public Interest Declassification Board (PIDB) recently hosted an open meeting to discuss its recommendations to the President on Transforming the Security Classification System, focusing on declassification prioritization. PIDB continues to advocate for public discussion on the report. This meeting represented opportunities to highlight recommendations from the report, continue the conversation about the current declassification … Continue reading Declassification Prioritization
In May 2011, Dominic McDevitt-Parks joined the National Archives as our first Wikipedian-In-Residence. This put the National Archives at the forefront of many cultural institutions in partnering with the Wikimedia community. Working for the National Archives as a part-time student intern, our Wikipedian led ground-breaking efforts for the agency. His automated-upload project provided 100,000 digital … Continue reading Breaking New Ground Again
October is American Archives month, a time to raise awareness about the value of archives and archivists and to celebrate that work. One of the ways we are participating this year will be to discuss the work of the Archivist of the United States. As a kickoff to American Archives Month, I invite you to … Continue reading Hanging Out for American Archives Month
Robert D.W. Connor, the President of the Society of American Archivists (SAA) and recently retired first Archivist of the United States, in his address to the Society at their annual meeting in 1942 read a letter from President Franklin D. Roosevelt who had been awarded an honorary membership in the organization. He called for “...the … Continue reading FDR’s BHAG
The National Archives, in collaboration with the Government Printing Office, publishes the Federal Register, a daily compilation of notices of public meetings, legislative hearings, grant and funding opportunities, and announcements of public interest. In addition, it publishes proposed regulations and provides information about how to comment on these proposals—a very manual process. On its 75th … Continue reading Happy Anniversary, Federal Register 2.0!
Yesterday the American Academy of Arts and Sciences Commission on the Humanities and Social Sciences released their report—The Heart of the Matter: The Humanities and Social Sciences for a Vibrant, Competitive, and Secure Nation. The report is the response to a bipartisan request from members of Congress: “What are the top actions that Congress, state governments, … Continue reading The Heart of the Matter
This afternoon, the National Archives launched Founders Online—a tool for seamless searching across the Papers of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, and Alexander Hamilton. Our National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC) has been funding these projects in paper for some time. Working with Rotunda at the University of Virginia … Continue reading Founders Online
