In my last post, I noted that through the persistence and dedication of many NARA staff and the help of our partners, the number of digital copies of our records in the National Archives Catalog surpassed 150 million. Digitizing large quantities of our records is an important goal for NARA because we know that not everyone can come to our facilities and providing these records online democratizes access to them. The conditions of the pandemic helped us to further understand the importance of providing digital access to our records.
NARA has prioritized many of the records for scanning based on the records that have been most often requested by our researchers. So although digital copies account for only a fraction of the total number of records in our custody, we know that these are some of the most heavily used by our researchers.
In celebration of exceeding 150 million digital copies, I offer highlights of some of the records that are now available in NARA’s Catalog.
The “Mascots” file in this series contains great animal photos:
See also:
- “Good Luck” Mutt Goes Along on the Invasion, National Archives Identifier 205582913
- Ship’s Pup Looks Right Smart at Deck Muster, National Archives Identifier 205582925
Thanks to the staff in Riverside, Boston, and our Still Pictures Branch for sharing a few of the many interesting records that we hold at the National Archives and make available through our online Catalog.
Always a pleasure to read about NARA’s progress under your and Deb Wall’s leadership
Yes you have digital records BUT
The photos that are digitized are for the most part lacking the file sizes and formats to be used in PRINT PUBLISHING (PAPER BOOKS!)
Secondly the search engine still sucks often not returning anything that was requested but everything that is unrelated