Source: marylandarchivistOur archival heritage is at risk. We need your help both vocally and financially.
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I went to check out the citizen transcription project last night, and I am impressed. Almost all of the beginner level materials are inscribed, and a majority of the intermediate and difficult ones are as well. Either there are a couple of dedicated participants going through the material, or there are a lot more people willing to squint at bad cursive than I initially thought.
wowsers, kinda surprised to see the North Pole diary is almost transcribed - I can barely read Robert Peary’s chicken scratch and I get to see it in person ;)
Source: awesomearchives
Aaisha Haykal sorted through boxes of decades-old historical NAACP papers dealing with the Confederate flag, education and police brutality.
Haykal, 24, an archivist and scholar working at the College of Charleston’s Avery Research Center for African American History and Culture is organizing the papers of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, and those of several other donated collections. The work she completes in a year-long fellowship will make it easier for people to search online and use the material.
Haykal is one of seven archival fellows selected by the Chicago-based The HistoryMakers to work on collections that preserve the history of blacks in America and to increase the number of black archivists.
Organization leaders estimate that less than 3 percent of the nation’s archivists are black, and they call that “a critical shortage.”
3% - it’s true, it’s true. At A2, I’ve lovingly coined the term “Blarchivist” - and the term only applies to one (1) person in the textual records processing division, hmph
Source: awesomearchives
it is an interesting dilemma, from my POV anyway (my country has had a stable, democratic Western government since its creation, the same people have had the same interest in creating and keeping its National Archives).
What is the fate of a nations important/permanent papers when the view and opinion of what is important to keep can change with each governmental revolution? Plus Egypt’s only been free of colonial-ish rule since the 50’s and how much did the Brits perpetuate the valuation of Egyptian antiquities over modern historical documents/records?
Maybe they (the current souls tasked with running the National Archives) should be allowed a bit of a pass? Lots of other things in the country are falling into place at this time. Of course a new collections plan will need to be written and ideas of permanent records and important national papers will need to be developed and solidified before donors should, I guess, trust the Egyptian archives.
Not that we shouldn’t be critical of a negligent institution, but let’s not paint them into a corner and give them the rep of unsafe-ignorant-origin country that can’t protect it’s own stuff before they get up off the ground.
Mr. David Ferriero, Archivist of the United States, spent time in the conservation labs recently with Senior Conservators Lauren Varga and Jana Dambrogio. Lauren showed Mr. Ferriero an album of platinum prints.They looked at an album of Commissioned Officers of the U.S. Revenue Cutter…
aww looky my colleagues! :) Jana - single handedly letting the NARA world know about the world of early American tooling (it’s pretty fascinating)
Source: preservearchives
This letter was written by Fidel Castro at the age of 12. Castro wrote to President Franklin D. Roosevelt introducing himself and asking if the President would send him a $10 bill because he had never seen one before. November 6, 1940.
o looky - it’s a document I work with :)
to answer what’s not being said on this post -
1) young Fidel sent this to congratulate FDR on his recent re-election (as many other Cuban citizens did, the National Archives have some of their letters too)
2) sadly, his letter most likely never made it to FDR, and he never got a $10 bill. Fidel received a somewhat form letter response - with a consular official wishing him luck in school (and not taking up the chance to tour the rich iron mine :/)
3) not everything’s on the internets yet kids
#moments when I enjoy my job
Source: research.archives.gov
Found while “combing” (ha!) through notes of a U.S. Grant biographer. It’s finds like these that prove that sometimes, in archival collections, you need more than just a frickin container list
Source: archives.govDated October 25, 1901, this is a pastel and chalk rendering of the steam yacht America by Russell Williams Porter, an artist and surveyor for the the Baldwin-Ziegler Polar Expedition of 1901. The America would later be crushed by pack ice during the subsequent Fiala-Ziegler Expedition of 1903.
A veteran of six Arctic trips between 1894 and 1903, Russell W. Porter left behind an impressive collection of paintings, drawings, notebooks, journals, and correspondence.
Batter up for Tag it Tuesday!
In the midst of the World Series, we’re kicking off Tag it Tuesday with some baseball-themed records. These are just three of the interesting baseball-related records that you can find at the National Archives. Search “baseball” in the Online Public Access (OPA) system and you’ll get over 3,000 results.
But we need your help! We’re asking you to step up to the plate and tag your favorite baseball records. Check out our starting line-up of baseball images in our online catalog. Click on any of the results, login, and start tagging.
Play Ball!
Go Denise, Go NARA :)
Source: blogs.archives.gov
Jackie Robinson
January 31, 1919 - October 24, 1972
Jack Roosevelt Robinson was the first African American to “officially” play in Major League Baseball. When he retired from the game, Jackie Robinson went on to champion the cause of civil rights from his position as a prominent executive of the Chock Full o’Nuts Corporation.
Robinson had grown increasingly impatient with what he regarded as President Eisenhower’s failure to act decisively in combating racism. In this letter, he expresses his frustration and calls upon the President to finally guarantee Federal support of black civil rights.
Shown here is Robinson’s 1958 letter to President Eisenhower, and a photo of Robinson with his son at the March on Washington D.C. in 1963.
Jackie Robinson passed away on this day, 39 years ago.
(via todaysdocument)
Source: research.archives.gov
