David S. Ferriero's Blog, page 26

One Year of Founders Online

This month we celebrate the one year anniversary of the launch of Founders Online – a tool for seamless searching across the papers of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, and Alexander Hamilton. In the past year, the site has received over 400,000 visits.

An example of the power of the site shows in its great search results. When I searched for “Cotton,” “Beverly,” and “Washington,” the results returned the exact document I had in mind – a diary entry by George Washington written in 1789 remarking on his visit to the cotton manufactury in my home town of Beverly, Massachusetts.

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The Next Generation

Who says civics is dead?  Click on the video and watch these 5th graders in action!  And then read their petition.  Enough said!

 

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Innovate To Make Access Happen

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 in more than 160 external projects on more than 15 social media platforms, as well as through our public events, educational programs, Research Services, and Presidential Libraries.

At the same time we are working to improve internal communications and employee satisfaction, creating a cohort of managers and supervisors with a common ethos that supports the mission of the agency. And we have empowered Special Emphasis Program Managers across the agency to help create an environment that supports fair and open opportunities for all employees regardless of their differences.

Our Flagship Initiative, “Innovate to Make Access Happen,” describes our digitization, description, and online access efforts for the next two years. Check it out and track us as we develop a program to digitize our analog records, expand digitization partnerships, and update our digitization strategy.

In the next two years, I want the National Archives to become a leader in innovation and transform the way people think about archival collections! Join us in the journey.… [ Read all ]

Happy Memorial Day!

The photograph was taken at Soldier Field, Chicago, in July of 1967. The Navy’s Recruit Training Command at Great Lakes provided the manpower to create The Living Flag. In the upper right corner of the blue field, wearing a blue plastic bag over whitehat, stands recruit David S. Ferriero!

Remembering boot camp on this Memorial Day weekend.

“Soldier Field, Chicago, Illinois, July 8, 1967: 10,000 sailors from the Great Lakes Naval Training Center form a living flag. Mayor Richard J. Daley and Rear Admiral William S. Guest, Commandant, Ninth Naval District, are the principal speakers at the event during which several classes of recruits graduated from the Training Center” . . .  428-N-1124035… [ Read all ]

Sleepover at the National Archives

It gives me great joy to be able to share the treasures of the National Archives with kids and their families.

In January, we held the first-ever National Archives Sleepover in the Rotunda. It was a great way to create a meaningful experience for families, while giving us the opportunity to explain the important role of the Archives in preserving government records and making them accessible to the public.

The first sleepover drew families from around the country- many of whom had never visited the National Archives before! The response was so positive that we decided to invite more families during summer vacation and again in the fall.

Our next sleepover will be held on August 2.  It will feature an “Explorers Night” night theme, complete with hands-on activities to help young explorers investigate, – through music, chats with historical figures, games, and more – some of the greatest adventures of all time.

You might even see me flipping pancakes again!

Archivist of the United States David Ferriero (right) and author Brad Meltzer (center) serve breakfast at the first National Archives sleepover.

Registration is now open for the August 2 sleepover. For more information, please visit archivesfoundation.org/sleepover.… [ Read all ]

Public Service Recognition Week and the Archivist’s Awards

Despite the challenges of the past year–sequestration, the government shutdown, and other obstacles we have had to face– the staff of the National Archives has consistently risen to the occasion and has done some extraordinary work.

Staff receive awards at the 2014 Archivist’s Awards Ceremony at the National Archives in College Park

 

For me, every week is Public Service Recognition Week and I have come to look forward to the Archivist’s Awards day when we celebrate our staff’s accomplishments.  All of our staff members are winners based on feedback supplied by our customers–the day-to-day work that doesn’t always get heralded. Here are some of the terrific things customers have to say about the staff of the National Archives:

An IRS agent was “taken aback by the professionalism and personal attention she received” at San Bruno. And another IRS person praised the FRC staff in Boston, Pittsfield, Seattle, and Lee’s Summit who “really went the extra mile to locate some very old Form 1120s––corporate tax returns.”
A  Department of Commerce records officer wrote: “Thank you again for coming and providing ERA training. You did fantastic, and the feedback was very good…. You are welcome to come back any time.”
At the National Personnel Records Center, a daughter searching for the military records of her late father wrote that “it is apparent you did a great deal … [ Read all ]

Patent of the Month: Tucker “Torpedo” Patent Drawing, 06/14/1949

During World War II, the South Side of Chicago was home to one of the largest war plants in the country, used by Dodge-Chrysler to build bomber plane engines. After the war, Preston Tucker leased two of the buildings to build his “Torpedo” car. This site is now the home of the National Archives at Chicago! Our National Archives Education team shares the full story on their Facebook page.

Here are the patent drawings for Tucker’s “Torpedo” car:

Tucker Torpedo Patent Drawing, 6/14/1949, National Archives Identifier 594674… [ Read all ]

Making Access Happen by Expanding Broadband

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 is essential in meeting the educational, cultural, and information needs of all citizens.

As the leader of an agency dedicated to providing access to the permanent records of the federal government, I support this initiative to increase broadband access. Tom Wheeler, Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, spoke eloquently of his own experience in using archival records and the value of electronic access to those records.  Broadband access is the crucial piece in this equation; we need to ensure that our holdings and content can reach the eyes of many more people in order to truly make access happen.

Watch the full recording of the IMLS Public Hearing: “Libraries and Broadband: Urgency and Impact”: 

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Modernizing Records Management

The Managing Government Records Directive (OMB M12-18) charges the National Archives and Records Administration to lead the efforts to modernize records management in the Federal Government.

The Directive focuses on two main goals:

agencies will require electronic recordkeeping by managing all their email in an accessible electronic format by the end of 2016 and managing all their permanent records as electronic records by the end of 2019.
agencies must demonstrate compliance with all records management laws and regulations.

I talked about the importance of the Directive in a post when it was issued in 2012. Since then, we passed several milestones. Agencies have identified Senior Agency Officials to lead records management in their programs and I have met with them to discuss the challenge and collaborate on solutions. And they have reported on their progress.

Staff members Meg Phillips, Don Rosen, and Chief Records Officer Paul Wester mingle with vendors at “The Managing Government Records Directive: A Grand Challenge for Industry” event in September 2013.

In September, we hosted a successful industry day for the Federal information management community and vendors with automated electronic records management solutions and services. It was an opportunity to meet and discuss the solutions and tools needed to meet the goals of the Directive.

We followed industry day with a request for information, asking vendors to describe … [ Read all ]

Be Bold. Build Our Future Through Our People

Our fourth strategic goal, our most important goal, focuses on the real treasures of the National Archives–our staff.

Photograph of Female Statue, The Future, Located near the Pennsylvania Avenue Entrance to the National Archives Building, 06/30/1936.  National Archives ID: 7657960

 

This goal highlights our commitment to provide our staff with the training, tools and opportunities necessary for the transition into a digital environment. We intend to support staff through creating a culture of empowerment, openness and inclusion through both our processes and new technology. And we want to ensure that we have a diverse workforce, equipped with the skills necessary to fulfill our mission.

The goal of “Building Our Future Through Our People” includes several initiatives. We plan to:

Foster an employee development culture to promote learning and leadership by all.
Cultivate a robust, well-connected internal communications environment to support informed action at all levels.
Implement innovative practices and tools to recruit, sustain, and retain a 21st century workforce.
Create new career paths for NARA employees to ensure that we have the necessary competencies and skills in a digital environment.

As you can see from the initiatives, we take our commitment to the staff of the National Archives very seriously.  It is only by providing a supportive environment for our staff that any of our goals may be achieved.

This is the final post … [ Read all ]