Previously we let you know about some of the ways OGIS and other federal agencies are celebrating the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) during Sunshine Week. Today, we’d like to tell you about how you can contribute to a special Sunshine Week project by our parent agency, the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA).
As you may know, NARA created a tool that allows the public to help make historical documents more accessible and improve search results. By using the Citizen Archivist Dashboard, you can tag and transcribe some of the millions of digitized pages of records in the National Archives Catalog.
Of the groups of records that NARA is targeting for transcription this week, people in the FOIA world might be particularly interested in helping transcribe love letters from Lyndon Baines Johnson to “Lady Bird” Johnson. As the 36th President of the United Station, LBJ signed the original FOIA bill in 1966. It is well-known, however, that he did not love the bill. The series of letters might help the FOIA community see a different side of LBJ.
If you decide to give the Citizen Dashboard a try, please use the hashtag #1000pages and tweet us @USNatArchives to let us know what you’re working on and what you find in the records!
Thank you! Citizen archivists transcribed 2,500 pages and added 10,000 tags to the National Archives Catalog during Sunshine Week, March 16-23, 2015. We more than double the 1,000 page goal! Check out our Storify of the Transcription Challenge: https://storify.com/USNatArchives/1000pages-transcription-challenge.
We still need your help! We have millions of pages of digitized records available in our online catalog. Check out how to get started at: http://www.archives.gov/citizen-archivist/transcribe/#catalog.