David S. Ferriero's Blog, page 29
October 24, 2013
Patent of the Month
The National Archives contains many archival gems. To share some of my favorites, I am starting a new feature for the blog, Patent of the Month.
Eye Protector for Chickens
Eye Protector for Chickens, Patent 730918, June 16, 1903. Records of the Patent and Trademark Office. National Archives and Records Administration (Page 2)
Eye Protector for Chickens, Patent 730918, June 16, 1903. Records of the Patent and Trademark Office. National Archives and Records Administration (Page 1)
Eye Protector for Chickens, Patent 730918, June 16, 1903. Records of the Patent and Trademark Office. National Archives and Records Administration (Page 3)… [ Read all ]
October 18, 2013
September 19, 2013
Breaking New Ground Again
In May 2011, Dominic McDevitt-Parks joined the National Archives as our first Wikipedian-In-Residence. This put the National Archives at the forefront of many cultural institutions in partnering with the Wikimedia community.
Working for the National Archives as a part-time student intern, our Wikipedian led ground-breaking efforts for the agency. His automated-upload project provided 100,000 digital images of NARA’s records on the Wikimedia Commons for use in Wikipedian articles. He coordinated and hosted Wikimedia crowdsourcing projects that included digitization and transcription of records. He acted as a bridge between NARA and the Wikimedia community, bringing Wikipedians into the Archives, and ensuring that NARA staff attended and presented at the 2012 Wikimania Conference, as well as hosting local gatherings of Wikimedians at the National Archives.
The results? The top 4,000 Wikipedian articles that include NARA digital copies are on track to receive one billion views in 2013. That’s why it is important to work with the Wikimedia community, they share a common mission with the Archives, to provide world class access.
Dominic’s work with us at that time generated a great deal of buzz, including the following:
National Archives Blog, Meet Our Wikipedian in Residence: Dominic McDevitt-Parks and Press Release, June 1.
Zongter B., National Archives Hires “Wikipedian in Residence”, NBC Washington, June 1. (reposted by Boston Globe[1])
Stone A., National Archives names … [ Read all ]
September 10, 2013
Hanging Out for American Archives Month
October is American Archives month, a time to raise awareness about the value of archives and archivists and to celebrate that work. One of the ways we are participating this year will be to discuss the work of the Archivist of the United States.
As a kickoff to American Archives Month, I invite you to join us on Google+ for an Ask the Archivist Hangout. I’ll be answering your questions on Tuesday, September 24th from 2-2:30 pm, EST, from my office in the National Archives Building in Washington, DC. And if you’re not able to watch it live, the hangout will be posted on YouTube so you can check it out later.
So, what will we talk about? That’s up to you! Send me your questions about what it means to be the Archivist of the United States by posting them in the comments to this blog post, tweet them with the #AskAOTUS hashtag, or post them on Google+ with the same hashtag. I’m ready to answer any questions you might have and I will even show you around my office. I’m eager to hang out with you on September 24th!
Original Image: Photograph of Radio Broadcast for the March of Dimes with Margaret Truman and Others, 01/21/1948, National Archives Identifier 199642
Remember: The Hangout is on Tuesday, September 24th, … [ Read all ]
August 29, 2013
FDR’s BHAG
Robert D.W. Connor, the President of the Society of American Archivists (SAA) and recently retired first Archivist of the United States, in his address to the Society at their annual meeting in 1942 read a letter from President Franklin D. Roosevelt who had been awarded an honorary membership in the organization. He called for “…the duplication of records by modern processes…”
Letter from President Franklin D. Roosevelt to Robert Diggs Wembly Connor, 13 February 1942, Folder 668, Box 8 in the R. D. W. Connor Papers #2427, Southern Historical Collection, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
FDR acknowledged the magnitude of effort required: “This involves, of course, a vast amount of work because of the volume of federal, state and local archives of all kinds—but I think that a broad plan would meet with hearty public support if it could be properly publicized.”
Which brings to mind the language in our draft Strategic Plan, one of the objectives under our goal of Making Access Happen. In an effort to make an ever-increasing number of records available to the public we have promised to streamline processes, innovate, and collaborate with others to significantly increase the number of NARA records that are available to the public. In fact, we have been so bold as to suggest that we “Digitize all analog archival … [ Read all ]
August 12, 2013
Thanks, Mr. Hollerer
Emery “Joe” Hollerer was my high school English teacher and on Friday night at the 50th Reunion of the Beverly (MA) Class of 1963 we all had a chance to thank him for the role he has played in shaping our lives.
Emery “Joe” Hollerer and David Ferriero
My own love of literature and reading was fostered under his tutelage. He expected us to read at least 50 pages a night and to this day if I miss my quota I feel the guilt!
Senior year this English class was responsible for the high school newspaper and many of us were on the literary magazine staff, so teaching writing was an important part of Mr. Hollerer’s portfolio. Our efforts were returned with a rubber-stamped grading guide he developed—SPLAGM—which was the topic of much conversation Friday night! Spelling, punctuation, logic, arrangement, grammar, and maturity. One of my classmates admitted to him that he had always had someone else write his first and last paragraphs and Mr. Hollerer always praised only the first and last paragraphs of his papers!
Public speaking rounded out the curriculum for this class. Getting up in front of our classmates was pretty traumatic but Mr. Hollerer, as he did in every class, made learning fun. I particularly remember the week we did “demonstration speeches”—explaining how to do something. A friend who … [ Read all ]
August 2, 2013
The Family Bible
The National Archives has many fascinating records documenting our history. Some of the most fascinating are contained in our Pension Files documenting veterans’ claims, or claims from their families, for benefits starting with the Revolutionary War. For a wife or parent to qualify for benefits on behalf of the deceased soldier they needed to supply proof of the relationship with that soldier. The result is a collection of letters, diaries, frakturs, embroidered family trees, photographs, and more than 100 Bibles containing family information. These files are heavily used by genealogists in their research on family histories.
Last month, one of our own, Jeffrey Kees who works at the National Personnel Records Center in St. Louis, brought his Dad, John, to visit their family Bible. Jeffrey’s Great-Great-Great-Grandfather, Philip Kees fought in the Revolutionary War, and the Bible, which contains family history noted in the margins of the text, was submitted by his widow as proof of her relationship with Kees.
Examining the Kees Family Bible. Left to Right: John Kees, Trevor Plante, and David Ferriero
Jeffrey’s Great-Great Grandfather, William Kees, served in the 155th Pennsylvania Infantry during the Civil War and we were able to display those pension records also.
The highlight of the visit was fulfilling Jeffrey’s wish to repeat his swearing in on the Kees Family Bible. Happy to accommodate and … [ Read all ]
July 26, 2013
Happy Anniversary, Federal Register 2.0!
The National Archives, in collaboration with the Government Printing Office, publishes the Federal Register, a daily compilation of notices of public meetings, legislative hearings, grant and funding opportunities, and announcements of public interest. In addition, it publishes proposed regulations and provides information about how to comment on these proposals—a very manual process. On its 75th anniversary on July 26th 2010, we launched Federal Register 2.0, affectionately known as FR2, exploiting social media tools to better connect the American public with their government. Highly graphic, clean and crisp, it is arranged in topical section to meet user demand and interest: money, environment, world, science and technology, business and industry, and health and public welfare.
The most important feature is the ability to immediately comment on proposed regulations. A prominent green “Submit a Comment” button next to the proposal launches a pop up comments page.
Proposed Rule on Federal Register 2.0 Website
Submit a comment on the proposed rule though Regulations.gov
Traffic on the site is up more than 36% over last year with 500k visits per month and more than 1m pages viewed each month. In the first three months of 2013, nearly 35k comments were submitted to Federal agencies about proposed regulations. There is no simpler means of participating in the rulemaking process in all of the Federal … [ Read all ]
July 17, 2013
Happy Birthday Waldo!
This is the birthday of Waldo Gifford Leland, born this day in 1879 in Newton, Massachusetts. He was a historian with careers at the Carnegie Institution and the Library of Congress, and played an important role in the creation of the National Archives.
Leland’s portrait hangs among those of the previous Archivists of the United States. And I discovered him on a recent afternoon when I noticed that there were 10 portraits. Counted them twice. Thought maybe someone had made a mistake and I was number 11, not 10!
Portrait of Waldo Gifford Leland, 1879-1966. From RG 64, Records of the National Archives
The portrait was dedicated on October 24, 1957.
Leland was a student of J. Franklin Jameson at Brown and Jameson’s mentee. Leland took an early interest in archives, compiling the “Guide to the Archives of the Government of the United States in Washington” and searching across the United States for the correspondence of the Continental Congress delegates.
In 1907 he presented a paper to the Columbia Historical Society in Washington stressing the need for a national archives—the beginning of his campaign for preserving the records of the country. In 1909 he presented his paper, “American Archival Problems,” at the American Archivists Conference, which he helped organize. In 1912 he wrote “The National Archives: a Programme” which outlined the poor condition of … [ Read all ]
July 3, 2013
Happy Fourth of July!
In 1776 when John Adams was envisioning future celebrations of the Declaration of Independence he said:
“It ought to be commemorated, as the Day of Deliverance by solemn Acts of Devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with Pomp and Parade, with Shews, Games, Sports, Guns, Bells, Bonfires and Illuminations from one End of this Continent to the other from this Time forward forever more.”
While he didn’t mention the National Archives and our annual commemoration I am sure he would be pleased with how the home of the Declaration of Independence celebrates this day. Hundreds of people will be gathering on the Constitution Avenue steps of the National Archives to participate in a dramatic reading of this Charter of Freedom by Abigail and John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, Ned Hector, and George Washington. What better way to prepare for the Fourth of July parade in the Nation’s capitol?!
David S. Ferriero's Blog
