Celebrating 150 Million Digital Copies in the Catalog, Part Two

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. 

Photograph of a Marine Returning to a Coast Guard-Manned Assault Transport National Archives Identifier 51302 from 14,081 prints from U.S. Coast Guard Photographs of Activities, Facilities, and Personalities, 1939-1967 – National Archives Identifier 513164 / 26-G. These include D-Day photos.

The  “Mascots” file in this series contains great animal photos:

Dee-Day” Goes to France on D-Day . National Archives Identifier 205583066
“Doc Sunshine” Makes His Rounds. National Archives Identifier 205582889

See also: 

Alien Registration Affidavit for Olga S. Olbert, National Archives Identifier 217848343. From the series Alien Registration Affidavits, 1918
Chinese Exclusion Act Case File 2500/10: Jon Kim — 1911–[INS Office] Boston, National Archives Identifier 7798167 from Chinese Exclusion Act Case Files

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.

2 thoughts on “Celebrating 150 Million Digital Copies in the Catalog, Part Two

  1. 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

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