The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) celebrates its 25th anniversary this year. Signed on July 26, 1990 by President George H.W. Bush, the ADA was the world’s first comprehensive civil rights law for people with disabilities. The National Archives holds many records that relate to American citizens with disabilities. In addition to the historic legislation … Continue reading 25th Anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act
Recently I came across a story about an archives in a box of Corn Flakes. A woman in Tennessee had stored some 400 letters written by former German prisoners-of-war who had lived in camp near the state’s southern border. After the war was over, many of the POWs wrote to the people in the community, … Continue reading What’s in Your Attic?
Calling all history enthusiasts and citizen archivists! Participate in the Transcription Challenge this week and help us meet -- and surpass! -- our goal of transcribing more than 1000 pages. Join us in celebrating Sunshine Week and transcribe records in our new National Archives Catalog. We’ll be tracking our progress every day this week, so … Continue reading Participate in the #1000pages Transcription Challenge
The Open Government Partnership, launched in the summer of 2011 can trace its roots to President Obama’s challenge to the members of the United Nations General Assembly in September of 2010---a challenge to work together to make all governments more transparent, collaborative, and participatory. The Partnership has grown from eight to more than 60 nations … Continue reading Second Open Government National Action Plan
The holdings of the National Archives are vast. With more than 12 billion pages of textual records alone, it is essential that we continue to explore and employ innovative strategies to provide effective access. By understanding how you currently access our records and better understanding your unique needs, we will be better positioned to ensure … Continue reading By the Numbers
The National Archives’ Strategic Plan includes a simple, but audacious initiative: to digitize our analog records and make them available for online public access. We have over 12 billion pages of records, so yes, this is our moon shot. To achieve this goal, we know we need to think in radically new ways about our … Continue reading The Scan Plan: Our Strategy to Digitize the Vast Holdings of the National Archives
The Information Security Oversight Office (ISOO), established in 1978, is responsible to the President for overseeing the Government-wide security classification program, and receives policy and program guidance from the National Security Council. ISOO has been part of the National Archives and Records Administration since 1995. You can learn more about ISOO at www.archives.gov/isoo The 34th … Continue reading ISOO Report to the President
Who says civics is dead? Click on the video and watch these 5th graders in action! And then read their petition. Enough said! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nlf7PoRVTRg
Today we share our new Open Government Plan. In the four years since we published our first plan, we have demonstrated our contribution to strengthening the principles of open government. We have implemented more than 90 actions to improve transparency, participation, and collaboration. In our new plan we focus our efforts to engage the public … Continue reading Innovate To Make Access Happen
I recently attended the Institute of Museum and Library Services’ public hearing on broadband access, hosted at the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library in Washington, DC. I was joined by colleagues from Federal agencies, universities, museums and libraries to examine the need for high speed broadband access in America’s libraries, and how this access … Continue reading Making Access Happen by Expanding Broadband
