Records prepared for scanning in the Digitization Center, photograph provided by the Digitization Center
In response to our ongoing Catalog Feedback Survey, we’ve had lots of questions about the digitization of records. Today we’re sharing the process to get records from the shelf to the Catalog.
The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) is on track to have a half a billion (500,000,000!) digitized pages in the National Archives Catalog by September 30, 2026. Over the next two years, we will be adding 151 million pages of new digital content (digital objects) that have previously only been available by visiting us in person.
How are we doing this?
New Digitization Center – The establishment of the Digitization Center at the National Archives at College Park, MD, is allowing us to ramp up digitization activities as we focus on agency-level priorities and other high-use records.
Digitization of Microfilm – long before digitization, records were reproduced on microfilm. The National Archives holds millions of rolls of microfilm created by NARA and other federal agencies. This microfilm is often in high-demand, and our goal is to make as much of our microfilm available online as possible over the next several years.
Partnerships – Through digitization partnerships with organizations like Ancestry, Fold3, and FamilySearch, we’ve added over 150 million digital objects to the National Archives Catalog over the past 10 years.
Records are digitized either through internal means or through an agreement with a partner or donor organization. Many archival units are digitizing high-interest records in their holdings. Large-scale scanning projects that have been designated as agency priorities are digitized in NARA’s new Digitization Center at our facility in College Park, MD. No matter where the digitized records come from, the National Archives Catalog ingests these files at an extraordinary rate - an average of more than 1 million digital objects a week!
Each year, NARA prioritizes our digitization efforts based on the significance, use, and preservation needs of the records and the availability of funding for the project. Interested in our current digitization strategy? Read Strategy for Digitizing Archival Materials for Public Access, 2015–2024.
The process to digitize an analog record and make it available online is made up of many steps involving multiple staff working collaboratively in various National Archives offices. Steps include: records assessment, records preparation and metadata capture/creation, scanning, conducting quality assurance/quality control, transferring and importing digital files, publishing, auditing, and sharing.
Records Assessment: Archival staff reviews records proposed for digitization to assess records condition, metadata requirements, and privacy concerns. The information gathered during this step is key to determining the appropriate equipment to use to scan our records.
Records Preparation and Metadata Capture/Creation: Often the most time-consuming task, preparing records in advance of scanning is an important step in the digitization process. Records must be prepared well to ensure safe, efficient scanning at the capture device. Typically, government records have many, many staples, paperclips, binder clips, grommets, and other fasteners or adhesives that keep pages organized. Archival staff work hard to remove the many types of fasteners. If something is taped or glued, our conservation staff expertly treat the records to prepare them so they can be safely imaged.
In addition to removing fasteners, staff place fragile or torn pages in protective sleeves, flag documents that are oversize or have privacy concerns, identify documents requiring more in-depth conservation treatment, and capture or create file-level metadata.
Scan: Once the records are fully prepped, they are moved to the scanning queue where staff use a variety of equipment to capture digital images.
Quality Assurance/Quality Control: After scanning is complete, staff review the digital objects and metadata for image quality standards, completeness, and accuracy. This step is critically important to ensure a seamless import to the National Archives Catalog.
Transfer/Import/Publish/Share: Once quality control is complete, the archival metadata and digital objects are packaged up and handed off to the Catalog staff who import the digital files into the the National Archives Catalog, making them available online for researchers around the globe.
Audits: Even after digital objects are made available online, the work continues as staff conduct audits to ensure everything is online. Sometimes there still can be issues…so if you ever see something that may need fixing, please contact catalog@nara.gov.
It is a difficult task to pick just a few examples of records from the 100,837,072 digital objects added to the Catalog in FY24. Here are just a few records that were digitized by partners, the Digitization Center, and by archival units.
Digitized by partners:
[Left] Letters Received by Congress from Louis XVI, 1786, page 3, National Archives Identifier 464817841from the series Journal of the Continental Congress, 1775, National Archives Identifier 464820500 in Record Group 360: Records of the Continental and Confederation Congresses and the Constitutional Convention
[Left] 18 Signs [2 of 4], page 3, National Archives Identifier 405174300 from the series Historical Photograph Files, National Archives Identifier 2184520 in Record Group 95: Records of the Forest Service
[Right] District Files, District 6 - Robins Air Force Base, Robins Field, Georgia, page 3, National Archives Identifier 446388287 from the seriesRecords of Investigations of Unidentified Flying Objects (UFOs) relating to the Office of Special Investigations, National Archives Identifier 23857152 inRecord Group 341: Records of Headquarters U.S. Air Force (Air Staff)
Digitized by the Archival Unit:
[Left] Hubble Space Telescope, September 11, 1989, National Archives Identifier 355163632 from the series Photographs Relating to Agency Activities, Facilities and Personnel, National Archives Identifier 12005631 inRecord Group 255: Records of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration
[Right] E.H. Barney: Roller Skate, December 21, 1880, National Archives Identifier 350870411 from the series Utility Patent Drawings, National Archives Identifier 305888 in Record Group 241: Records of the Patent and Trademark Office
Want to view more newly digitized records? Explore the What’s New in the Catalog page and be on the lookout for a refreshed page with new content coming soon.
Do you search the Catalog or contribute as a Citizen Archivist? If you do, we want your feedback!
Please take a moment to take our survey to tell us what you like, what you don’t like, and how we can improve. We value your feedback and use it to improve the Catalog, Citizen Archivist, and instructions on how to use the Catalog and contribute as a Citizen Archivist.
Are you curious about digitized records? Make sure you stop by History Hub’s communities where you’ll find discussions and information relating to a wide range of historical topics and interests.
Make History Hub your first stop! You can ask—or answer—questions on History Hub, or see if your question has already been answered! Check out our featured edition for more details, information, and instructions aboutusing History Hub for your research.
