ONLINE PUBLIC ACCESS SYSTEM (OPA)ARCHIVAL RESEARCH CATALOG (ARC)

MICROFILM CATALOG

Using Three Important National Archives Online Resources

for Locating Documents

These are the three I

absolutely use the most!

…. Carol Buswell

http://www.archives.gov

Our opening page at on the NARA website can lead you

to lots of places.

Today, we will focus

specifically on our search

engines using Research Our

Records

http://www.archives.gov/research/

SEARCH ONLINEHere, you can see there are five bullet points.

• The first is where you go for the Microfilm Catalog

•Second, the Archival Research Catalog

•The AAD links to records that have always been digital – I won’t talk about this one because it is easy to understand … just poke around … It contains great materials … like records from individuals in Japanese Relocation facilities and individual WWII Army enlistment records.

•The Online Public Access system

•The Guide to Federal Records – an online description of ALL NARA Record Groups .

This is how you would search for the enumeration district maps for the UPCOMING 1940 census , which will be released to the public on April 2, 2012 at 9:00 AM Eastern Daylight Time. You can also search for descriptions of enumeration districts the same way, by county and state (or large city and state).

This is one of the RARE instances where searching using lots of search terms is best. That’s probably because it is new.

Usually you will need to be very brief with your search terms… I try only to use one or two words if possible. Keep Record Group names in mind and use them if you can. Think of lots of possibilities. In many cases the descriptions of the documents were put on our system before the archivists had any idea they would be public. Archives terms still work best. Also keep in mind that if there was a title on the original document, place there by the original agency, that title will be used. Usually they are very general. Once in a while even a name occurs in the original, however.

The first “box” or group of

records that appears on

the page are scans of actual

documents. To see them all click View

Online Holdings.

You will get something that looks like this.________________________

Notice that you can focus at any point in the search process using the categories on the left column.

1. Topic clusters

2. Data Source

3. Level of Description

4. Date

5. Type of Archival Materials

6. File Format

7. Location (of original documents)

All the focus categories are pretty clear, except maybe the Data Source section. In that case, Archives.gov means it could come from any place on our website, including scholarly articles and exhibits. Archival data records means they were born electronic. Authority records describe the background of the agency or office.

Click on a picture and you will get something like this. Note that there are 26 pages of photos for this particular Enumeration district. Also note that your citation is listed over on the left. The only thing that is missing from a citation is “National Archives and Records Administration (www.archives.gov )” and the Item Number (so someone could find it again). Scroll down on the page and copy the ID Number that appears. Then all anyone will have to do is type the ID Number into the OPA search box to get back to the record.

You can enlarge the photo to get a closer view, scroll side to side on the photo and format the image.

You can also bookmark the image, share it, save it, and print it.

The rest of an OPA page

I did a search for this example using the term Yupik.

Keep in mind that records of these people will not usually be listed this way, but are usually listed by their larger Native group. Also remember the “titles” we talked about before.

Anyway, you can see that I only got two “boxes.” The first one, Online Holdings, is the one we have just discussed.

The second box, “Archives.gov” lists everything from exhibits, blogs, articles, lesson plans … basically anything using that term on our website.

I needed to do a different search so you could see all the different “boxes” that might appear on the screen. This search was done using the search term “native village.”

You can see there are a lot more hits!

This is the first “box “ that we have already talked about.

Now … let’s scroll down the page.

The second “box” is called Description Only. These are Series Descriptions … the same ones you saw when you looked at original documents.

Remember:

1. Group (suchas Record Group) and local office

2. Series

3. Item You can also see another Archives.gov “box.” Again, these are records from anywhere on the NARA website.

Further down the page, you will find materials from the Presidential Libraries, and (once again) Authority Records.

As in the first box … just click on View All to see everything available for the search term you have used.

http://www.archives.gov/research/arc/For best results,

click on the YELLOW search button.

This database is not supposed to be with

us forever. I am including it because

it holds ALL the documents we have scanned so far, while OPA has not received

them all yet. OPA is the database of the future. ARC

still contains documents you may

want however. In other words, if

you can’t find what you are looking for try ARC before you

give up.

Notice the tabs at the top of the page.

Note: ONLY about 70% of NARA series descriptions have been typed into ARC by the archivists. They are working hard to

add more daily!

Archival Descriptions

means

Series Descriptions

Some of the series scanned documents

attached.

If you want to know most of what the archives has on a

subject, regardless of whether or not it is scanned and on the website, use this

search.Remember … try lots of

one or two-word searches for your topic.

Regardless of what tab you use,Be sure to limit results to 2000 !

Digital CopiesThese are actual scanned documents at the item level.

This is an advanced search. You can focus on type of record, location of original document, level of description and date on this page. Notice that I didn’t want to see moving images. The moving images for this search are awesome, however. You might want to go look at some.

The other two tabs

PEOPLE

ORGANIZATIONS

are good if you are looking for someone in particular, who did something that gave him/her some reason to be listed by name or an organization associated with the federal government.

Frankly, I very seldom use these two

tabs.

Samples of documents you can find on ARC and OPA

State Summary of War Casualties from World War II for Navy, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard Personnel from Washington,

1946 ARC Identifier 305232 / MLR Number ZZ 1 Item from Record Group 80: General Records of the Department of the Navy, 1804 - 1983

World War II Selective Service System Registration Card for Earl Thomas Abicht., 04/27/1942 ARC Identifier 283096 Item from Record Group 147: Records of the Selective Service System, 1926 - 1975

Manzanar Relocation Center, Manzanar, California.

Signing for bedding at Manzanar, a War Relocation Authority center where evacuees of Japanese ancestry will spend the duration.

These evacuees came from Elk Grove, California. 05/29/1942

ARC Identifier 538490 / Local Identifier 210-G-D521 Item from Record Group 210: Records of the War Relocation Authority, 1941 - 1989

Final Accountability Roster of Residents at Manzanar Relocation Camp, 06/01/1942 - 12/31/1944 ARC Identifier 596056 / MLR Number PI77 50 Item from Record Group 210: Records of the War Relocation Authority, 1941 - 1989

Sample results from a DIGITAL COPIES SEARCH on ARC … using the Digital Copies Tab.

Japanese war balloon, 1945 ARC Identifier 285263 Item from Record Group 75: Records of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, 1793 - 1999

Photograph of a Japanese War Balloon, 1945 ARC Identifier 1801149 Item from Record Group 75: Records of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, 1793 - 1999

Japanese war balloon, 1945 ARC Identifier 285260 Item from Record Group 75: Records of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, 1793 - 1999

Moving images

You can find some great moving images on ARC and OPA. Many, however are just short clips of the movie itself.

I have a copy of the complete Japanese Paper Balloon training film for the Navy (listed here ) at my desk and could send you a copy if you let me know at carol.buswell@nara.gov .

The Microfilm Catalog.Microfilm can be borrowed from the Seattle NARA facility (and a few

others) by a College or Public library (with a microfilm reader) in groups of up to 9 rolls of film. Just have your library contact

seattle.archives@nara.gov for details.

Some tips to using the Microfilm Catalog.

The microfilm search engine is halfway down the page after you click Online Research Tools.

Use BROAD, GENERAL search terms in the search box.

Once you locate a record you think you want to see, always click on View Important Publication Details to see more about the records and what is in each microfilm box in the series.

Questions? Ask an archivist.

Archivists are trained to help you locate the different Federal agencies that were involved with your topic, at the right place, during the right period of time.

The National Archives at Anchorage654 West Third AvenueAnchorage, AK 99501-2145907-261-7800alaska.archives@nara.gov Holding original records from Alaska

The National Archives at Seattle6125 Sand Point Way, NESeattle, WA 98115-7999

206-336-5115 seattle.archives@nara.gov

Holding original records from Washington, Oregon and Idaho

www.archives.gov