NARA has reintroduced a user-friendly “What’s New in the National Archives Catalog” page at https://www.archives.gov/research/catalog/whats-new. This webpage may highlight visually interesting items along with a list of:
Recent bulk uploads of descriptions of records
Recent bulk uploads of descriptions with images of records
Recent uploads of images to previously existing descriptions
The list shows the part of the NARA that holds the records and gives a direct link to where the records are in the Catalog. As should be expected, digital images of very large record series will usually be uploaded in increments over time (months or years), as digitization is accomplished. Digital images of very small series are normally uploaded all at once, such as the single volume series, List of Special Agents Who Collected Cotton Statistics, 1900 (National Archives Identifier 3318884).
What will you find that’s new and interesting to you?
Censuses “in-between” federal census years are always a bonus! Changes in families and neighborhoods can be more closely tracked. Missed or miss-enumerated families might be located.
NARA recently completed the digitization of a small series of off-year censuses called “Schedules of Municipal Population Enumerations, 1932-1938” (National Archives Identifier 2791185) that includes towns in Alabama, Illinois, Indiana, Missouri, North Carolina, and Pennsylvania. These are the only municipal censuses conducted by the Census Bureau that are in NARA custody.
The map below, courtesy of Australia’s Digital Classroom, shows the European boundaries of the Central Powers whose citizens were considered enemy aliens.
Search Tips: When searching the Enemy Alien Index in NARA’s Catalog, keep in mind that the first name of some aliens are abbreviated, such as “Chas.” for Charles or “Robt.” for Robert. Therefore, if searching by first and last name yields no results, search by surname only, or even by first name only for unusual first names. Also consider searching by alternate spellings of a surname if you get no results. In addition, some women are listed by their husband’s name, such as Mrs. Theodore Zeigler (NAID 296756836). You can also browse through an entire file unit (there are 23 file units), but be sure to set the “Sort by” order to either “Title (Alphabetically, A-Z)” or “Title (Alphabetically, Z-A)” instead of “Most Relevant.”
There are several upcoming webinars sponsored by the Department of the Interior Library that should be of interest to genealogical researchers. For information, see https://www.doi.gov/library/programs/training-sessions. It is necessary to contact the DOI Library in advance of each session for access information.
Are you researching someone who owned a hotel, motel, or inn? Did you find someone enumerated in the census at one of those locations? Did your ancestor frequent a tavern at a local inn? If so, you might learn more about the structure and its history in the records of the National Register of Historic Places!
John’s post helps you dig into the descriptions of over 23,000 properties with the term hotel, motel, or inn in their title in the National Archives Catalog. We promise there’s no check-out time: You can stay in the NARA Catalog as long as you like!
NARA’s “Record Group Explorer” page at https://www.archives.gov/findingaid/record-group-explorer is a good place to get information on the number of digital images available in NARA’s online Catalog at https://catalog.archives.gov/ as well as the immense quantities of textual records that exist. As of July 2022, there are 179,271,436 images in the National Archives Catalog – or approximately 1.541% of 11.6 Billion textual records. (And that’s only textual records: that count does not include motion pictures, audio recordings, or data files).
Just over a year ago, in June 2021, there were 135,404,569 images in the National Archives Catalog, or about 1.175% of an estimated 11,524,683,948 textual records. That’s an increase of over 43 million digital images in a little over a year! Progress! (Back in June 2020, those numbers stood at 109,384,656 images or .95% out of an estimated 11,509,956,576 textual records).
Want to follow along and see what’s added? The “What’s New in the National Archives Catalog” page at https://www.archives.gov/research/catalog/whats-new links to record series to which digital images have been added – and may also highlight a few interesting items.
Digitization is a slow process. Records are typically one-of-a-kind items that may be fragile, bound into volumes, or otherwise unsuitable for “high speed” automatic sheet-feeding imaging systems. Records may require unfolding; removal of staples, pins, clips, and other fasteners; repair by trained records conservators; and other preparation for imaging, such as arrangement and new or improved description. Just consider the handling care required for the bundle of records shown below, which was just a small part of a small series, Records of Clerks, Wagonmasters, and Printers Employed at Various Posts, 1865-66 (National Archives Identifier 4707062), from Record Group 92, Records of the Office of the Quartermaster General.
Bundle of records from “Records of Clerks, Wagonmasters, and Printers Employed at Various Posts, 1865-66 (National Archives Identifier 4707062), prior to digitization.
This small series is fully digitized. Each individual file unit is now is described in the National Archives Catalog by the name of the commanding officer and his geographic location, which vastly improves discoverability by researchers: see the screen shot below, which shows a few of the 389 file titles.
What records will you discover online in the National Archives Catalog?
On this Memorial Day, as we remember the fallen heroes who sacrificed their lives to defend our freedoms and preserve one United States of America, I respectfully direct your attention to an excellent two-part article by archives specialist Jackie Budell entitled “Beneath His Shirt Sleeves: Evidence of Injury” with Part I here and Part II here. This article highlights the sacrifice and stories of eight Union Civil War veterans who lost most – or part – of an arm during their war service.
On May 17, 2022, NARA’s 1950 Census website development team made a wonderful improvement to the name search feature. Names transcribed by humans are now shown in the search results above and below the census page image. What does this mean? Let’s look at an example.
Here’s the search result showing both OCR (optical character recognition) results AND human transcription results above the census page image in the upper right under “Matched Name(s).” (Click on the image for a bigger view.)’
Mildred Lauska, ED 92-47, with search result above the census page image
Here’s the same search result showing both OCR (optical character recognition) results AND human transcription results below the census page. (Click on the image for a bigger view.)
The OCR results generated by “Machine Learning (AI) Extracted Names” are shown first: Only Mildred’s husband, “Lauska melvins” is boldfaced because OCR had not transcribed Mildred or their daughters Joanne and Judith.
The “User Contributed Transcriptions” are shown second: All persons with the Lauska surname shown in bold: Melvin Lauska, Mildred Lauska, Joanne Lauska, and Judith Lauska.
Mildred Lauska, ED 92-47, with search result below the census page image
Important Takeaways:
Thank you for your transcriptions! They matter! They significantly improve the search results! In the Lauska family example, all four members of the household can easily be found instead of just one.
Now You Can See Everyone’s Transcriptions at Work! Yay!
Narrowing your name search to include state and county always better if the name was significantly misread by the OCR and has not been transcribed, or contains common names (John, Smith, and so forth!)
Thank you for your suggestions for website improvements!
Your transcriptions on NARA’s Official 1950 Census Website at https://1950census.archives.gov/ are generally indexed within 24 hours of submission. By transcribing names, you help to push those spellings – and therefore those records – to the top of search results when other users search for those names. However, your transcription will not appear in the list of “Machine Learning (AI) Extracted Names” at this time. NARA is working on an enhancement to add the transcribed names to the search results display.
