Happy Birthday, Wikipedia!

Today is a celebration of the creation of the world's largest online encyclopedia and the radical idea that information can be created by and open to everyone. This concept resonates with our work at the National Archives, where we strive to support open government values of transparency, collaboration and participation. We believe in government that … Continue reading Happy Birthday, Wikipedia!

Recent events at the Innovation Hub

Since the Innovation Hub opened in July 2015, many visitors and volunteers have passed through its doors to scan documents from our holdings, attend presentations and conferences, and participate in brainstorming sessions as well as scanathons and editathons. The Innovation Hub accomplishes an important part of NARA's mission to make access happen through digitization, and … Continue reading Recent events at the Innovation Hub

U.S. Coast Guard Logbook Scan-a-Thon

The featured scanning project from the National Archives Innovation Hub focuses on logbooks of the U.S. Coast Guard vessels that served in the Vietnam War. These vessels participated in Operation Market Time, an effort to patrol the South Vietnamese coast to keep supplies from reaching North Vietnamese Army and Viet Cong forces. The logbooks contain … Continue reading U.S. Coast Guard Logbook Scan-a-Thon

We want to hear from you! NARA’s Open Government Plan 2016-2018

I am proud to announce the publication of our fourth Open Government Plan. To get started, check out the Executive Summary, which provides an overview of the commitments the agency is making to make the National Archives and the Federal government more open over the next two years. We want to hear from you! This … Continue reading We want to hear from you! NARA’s Open Government Plan 2016-2018

National Archives Hosts WikiConference USA

The National Archives is proud to be the co-organizer and host site of WikiConference USA, which is being held in the National Archives Building in Washington D.C. Oct. 9–11. WikiConference USA is the annual national conference of Wikimedia enthusiasts and volunteers in the United States, and is open to anyone—regardless of their level of Wikipedia … Continue reading National Archives Hosts WikiConference USA

If You Build It, They Will Come

For several years we have discussed the possibility of an Innovation Hub as a place dedicated to incubating, accelerating, and promoting innovative projects that staff could work on with the public. We envisioned students working with our volunteers to learn about handwritten documents and to try transcribing them for our catalog. We talked about holding … Continue reading If You Build It, They Will Come