A user asked: “Penultimate signature??
Sure, who doesn’t enjoy a little “punmanship?”
We assume this was in reference to our John Hancock/Signature Crowdsourcing Post:
But all puns aside, if you have a flair for signatures, handwriting or penmanship, please Help Our Curators Find Signatures in the Records »
As January 23 is the birthday of founding father and owner of the penultimate signature, John Hancock, and National Handwriting Day, it seems the perfect time to share the National Archives’ latest signature crowdsourcing project:
One of our curators is working on an exhibit and would love your suggestions for signatures from National Archives records.
At the National Archives, we have a range of signatures from the infamous (Lizzie Borden), to signatures of individuals before they were famous (Julia Child’s OSS paperwork), as well signatures that had the power to change someone’s life or to change history, such as a Presidential pardon.
We would like your help to tag records with “signature” in our online catalog. Don’t be restricted to any categories of records. Tag records that you think are interesting or surprising.
To get started tagging, you’ll need to:
- Create a username and password,
- Login to the System,
- Start searching for interesting records or your favorite topics, and
- Then type in tags in the “Add Tag” field.
via NARAtions » Help Our Curators Find Signatures in the Records »
Recycling last year’s post — what better way to celebrate America Recycles Day?
Tag It Tuesday! America Recycles!
(via NARAtions » Tag It Tuesday! America Recycles!)
Today is America Recycles Day, a day dedicated to encouraging Americans to recycle and buy recycled products. To show that recycling isn’t a load of rubbish, today’s Tag It Tuesday challenge is to tag our records related to recycling.
THE RECYCLING CENTER IN PARK SLOPE (BROOKLYN) HANDLES THREE TONS OF NEWSPAPERS PER WEEK. EARNINGS FROM RECYCLING PAY FOR A PROGRAM TO COMBAT DRUG ADDICTION, 04/1973 (NAID 549810)
Series: DOCUMERICA
As part of our continued commitment to serving the members of our nation’s Armed Forces, we’re joining with the Sierra Club Mission Outdoors program for our first annual Veterans Day Essay and Photo Contest. This contest, centered on the theme “What My Public Lands Mean to Me,” encourages veterans, active-duty military, and their families to submit photos, essays and video about their experiences and memories of time spent outside on America’s public lands. http://mypubliclands.challenge.gov
Help Transcribe Records Related to the Katyn Forest Massacre
Twenty records related to the Katyn Forest Massacre are now available on the National Archives’ Transcription Pilot Project. You can help transcribe telegrams, messages, letters, and reports.
Learn more about records relating to the Katyn Forest Massacre at the National Archives.
Q:Hafa Adai from beautiful Saipan! I am an American expat living int he Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. In my time here I have learned about the history of Pacific campaign during World War II and the importance of these islands in the surrender of Japan. Might you share any documents that relate to the battles that occurred here?
Anonymous
Since the Battle of Saipan began on June 15, 1944, it seemed like no better time to answer this submission.
We’ve featured several photos relating the Battle of Saipan - be sure to stayed tuned for another coming up tomorrow!
Interested in delving deeper? Check out the National Archives’ online public access catalog (“OPA”) for more records about Saipan. If you’re really motived you can even start your own ‘Tagging’ mission - you can tag relevent records with phrases like “Battle of Saipan,” “Marines,” and “Codetalkers.”
Tagalong Tuesday Thursday! Celebrating Girl Scouts
The National Mall is just days away from an influx of thousands of Girl Scouts for Girl Scouts Rock the Mall: 100th Anniversary Sing-Along. I hope they shipped in enough Thin Mints for the party!
The National Archives has some great events planned coinciding with the Girl Scouts’ centennial celebration – including exhibits, a film, and a special entry to the National Archives Experience for Girl Scouts in uniform and their families on June 8, 9, 10 from 8:30 – 9:30 a.m.
Do you want to help celebrate the Girl Scouts’ big anniversary? How about joining us in a “tagalong” to tag Girl Scout-related images in our online catalog »
Some possible tags include – Girl Scout, green sash, badges, troop, camping, First Lady.
Until fairly recently, social media has been seen as experimental and outside the realm of the essential work of our agency. Today that is simply no longer the case. Smart use of social media is now mission-critical to our agency.
Today, it is no longer about a single voice disseminating information from the Archives. Our customers want deeper access to our staff and to hear the entire chorus of our voices. Our citizen archivists and engaged customers eagerly await more ways to participate and add their voices to the chorus. Together we can provide greater access to the records, and a deeper understanding of those records. Together we’ll amplify each other’s messages.
Let’s do it!
Read the full post on the AOTUS blog.
Titanic Tag It Tuesday!
100 years later, people are still fascinated by stories about the Titanic and her crew and passengers, 1,514 of whom died on her ill-fated maiden voyage. Those stories are detailed in the records about the tragedy, some of which are in the holdings of the National Archives. This Tag It Tuesday, we invite you to embark on the Titanic tagging mission that is featured on the Citizen Archivist Dashboard »
Shown above is one of the images that is included in the mission:
Photograph of a Lifeboat Carrying Titanic Survivors, 05/14/1912 (NAI 278337)
Some possible tags that you can add are “Titanic,” “lifeboat,” “survivors,” “sinking,” “iceberg,” or “S.O.S.”
Or you might want to examine the manifest of alien passengers on board the R.M.S. Carpathia and tag the record with the names of passengers to help improve searchability.
Putting Women on the Map: New Women’s History Collections on Historypin
March is Women’s History Month and March 8 is International Women’s Day! To celebrate, the National Archives has created four new collections focusing on women of the past in on Historypin.
The Women at Work collection depicts the role of women in the workforce throughout our national life – in farms, shipyards, hospitals, manufacturing plants, markets, and in the aviation industry - including “Mrs. William Wood manages a one hundred and twenty acre farm in Coloma, Michigan, with little male assistance.”
Historical photographs and documents reveal the struggle for woman suffrage in the collection of the same name, including women protesting at the White House in 1917.
Two more collections include Women in the military and famous women from National Archives holdings.
via NARAtions » Putting Women on the Map: New Women’s History Collections on Historypin »
Announcing the National Archives Transcription Pilot Project!
You can help the National Archives make historical documents more accessible by contributing to transcriptions!
Transcriptions help in searching for the document as well as in reading and understanding the document. The work you do transcribing a handwritten or typed document will help the next person discover and use that record.
Available documents include letters to a civil war spy, presidential records, suffrage petitions, and fugitive slave case files, and today’s featured document - the Credentials of Hiram Rhodes Revels. 
Tag It Tuesday! Lights, Camera, Archives?
(via NARAtions » Tag It Tuesday! Lights, Camera, Archives?)
Today’s Tag It Tuesday is going Hollywood! Did you know that every once in a while there’s a star sighting in the records of the National Archives? You just might find a poor little rich girl, a future Godfather, or a Top Gun making a guest appearance in our holdings.
Tammy Kelly, a colleague from the Truman Library, tipped us off about the photograph above; so today, we’re challenging you to identify the actors and actresses posing with President Harry Truman. Do you recognize any of the famous faces? If you do, tag them in the photo. We’ll see how many are identified and we’ll post the results next week! Here’s a hint to help you get started - there’s a joker and a lovely Mame in this image.
More celebrity tagging challenges at NARAtions » Tag It Tuesday! Lights, Camera, Archives?
Remembering Pearl Harbor and the Records from the Day of Infamy
Last week Today’s Document and the other National Archives Tumblrs & Blogs featured a number of records to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor. In case you missed any, our colleagues at Prologue did an excellent recap: Prologue: Pieces of History » Records from the Day of Infamy.
But if Pearl Harbor is really something that interests and motivates you, don’t stop there - put that drive to work and help tag some Pearl Harbor records »
Put a Pin in It! National Archives Joins Historypin
Have you ever looked at an historic storefront flanked by modern office buildings and wondered what the streetscape might have looked like back when that first building was constructed? If so, the National Archives’ new partnership with Historypin may be right up your alley! Historypin, a project of the British non-profit We Are What We Do™, seeks to build connections between multiple generations through an appreciation of the history of their shared communities. The site enables users to overlay (or “pin”) historic images, videos and audio recordings onto the sights of today, both online at Historypin.com and on the Historypin mobile app (available in the App Store and the Android Market). This new media mashup, which runs on Google maps, encourages visitors to add their own memories to the pinned records, highlighting the personal connection to changing landscapes.
Visit the National Archives profile on Historypin and take a tour of our local Penn-Quarter Neighborhood.
(via NARAtions » Put a Pin in It! National Archives Joins Historypin)
via NARAtions » Tag It Tuesday! Native American Heritage Month
All this month, the National Archives joined with the Library of Congress, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the National Gallery of Art, the National Park Service, the Smithsonian Institution and the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum to pay tribute to the traditions of Native Americans during Native American Heritage Month. The National Archives has hundreds of digitized records relating to Native Americans in our online catalog. In honor of Native American Heritage Month, we hope you’ll help us tag these interesting records!
Our catalog includes digitized records from Record Group 75, Records of the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA). The BIA, in conjunction with tribal governments, Native American organizations, other federal agencies, state and local governments, and other interested groups, was responsible for the development and implementation of economic, social, educational, and other programs for the benefit and advancement of Indian and Alaska native peoples. Also included in our online holdings, are records from Record Group 435, Records of the Indian Arts and Crafts Board (IACB). The IACB serves as a clearinghouse for development of Native American (American Indian and Alaska Native) arts and crafts.
Interested in BIA records? Start tagging here!
If arts and crafts are more your style, tag those images here!
