Archival research

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Bond dated 1623, written in secretary hand, in a combination of Latin and English, and in technical legal terminology. Secretary hand bond 1623.jpg
Bond dated 1623, written in secretary hand, in a combination of Latin and English, and in technical legal terminology.

Archival research is a type of research which involves seeking out and extracting evidence from archival records. These records may be held either in collecting institutions, [1] such as libraries and museums, or in the custody of the organization (whether a government body, business, family, or other agency) that originally generated or accumulated them, or in that of a successor body (transferring, or in-house archives). [2] Archival research can be contrasted with (1) secondary research (undertaken in a library or online), which involves identifying and consulting secondary sources relating to the topic of enquiry; and (2) with other types of primary research and empirical investigation such as fieldwork and experiment.

Contents

History of archives organizations

The oldest archives have been in existence for hundreds of years. For instance, in Europe, the General Archive of the Crown of Aragon was instituted in 1318, or the Vatican Secret Archives which were started in the 17th century and contain state papers, papal account books, and papal correspondence dating back to the 8th century. The Archives Nationales in France was founded in 1790 during the French Revolution and has holdings that date back to AD 625, and other European archives have a similar provenance. Archives in the modern world, while of more recent date, may also hold material going back several centuries, for example, the United States National Archives and Records Administration was established originally in 1934. [3] The NARA contains records and collections dating back to the founding of the United States in the 18th century. Among the collections of the NARA are the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution of the United States, and an original copy of Magna Carta. The British National Archives (TNA) traces its history to the creation of the Public Record Office in 1838, while other state and national bodies were also formed in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Universities are another venue for archival holdings and manuscript collections. Most universities have archival holdings that chronicle the business of the university. Some universities also have archives or manuscript collections that focus on one aspect or another of the culture of the state or country in which the university is located. Schools and religious institutions, as well as local studies and history collections, museums and research institutions may all hold archives.

The reason for highlighting the breadth and depth of archives is to give some idea of the difficulties facing archival researchers. Some of these archives hold vast quantities of records. For example, the Vatican Secret Archive has upwards of 52 miles of archival shelving. An increasing number of archives are now accepting digital transfers, which can also present challenges for display and access.

Archival research methodologies

Archival research lies at the heart of most academic and other forms of original historical research; but it is frequently also undertaken (in conjunction with parallel research methodologies) in other disciplines within the humanities and social sciences, including literary studies, rhetoric, [4] [5] archaeology, sociology, human geography, anthropology, psychology, and organizational studies. [6] It may also be important in other non-academic types of enquiry, such as the tracing of birth families by adoptees, and criminal investigations. Data held by archival institutions is also of use in scientific research and in establishing civil rights.

In addition to discipline, the kind of research methodology used in archival research can vary depending on its organization and its materials. For example, in an archives that has a large number of materials still unprocessed, a researcher may find consulting directly with archive staff who have a clear understanding of collections and their organization to be useful as they can be a source of information regarding unprocessed materials or of related materials in other archives and repositories. [7] When an archive is not entirely oriented towards one or relevant to a single discipline, researchers, for example genealogists, may rely upon formal or informal networks to support research by sharing information about specific archives' organization and collections with each other. [8] [9]

Conducting research at an archive

The Hoover Institution Library and Archives Reading Room. A reading room is a space at an archive where users can consult materials under staff supervision. Hoover-Archive-Reading-Room.jpg
The Hoover Institution Library and Archives Reading Room. A reading room is a space at an archive where users can consult materials under staff supervision.

Archival research is generally more complex and time-consuming than secondary research, presenting challenges in identifying, locating and interpreting relevant documents. Although archives share similar features and characteristics they can also vary in significant ways. While publicly funded archives may have mandates that require them to be as accessible as possible, other kinds, such as corporate, religious, or private archives, will have varying degrees of access and discoverability. [6] Some materials may be restricted in other ways, such as on those containing sensitive or classified information, unpublished works, or imposed by agreements with the donor of materials. [10] [11] [12] Furthermore, archival records are often unique, and the researcher must be prepared to travel to reach them. Even when materials are available in digital formats there may be restrictions on them that prohibit them from being accessed off-site.

Locating archival collections

Prior to online search, union catalogs were an important tool for finding materials in libraries and archives. In the United States, the National Union Catalog and the National Union Catalog of Manuscript Collections have been used by researchers to locate archives although much of its information has since been migrated to online systems.

An increasing number of archival institutions can be found via an online search. In addition, portals such as Europeana, the Digital Public Library of America and the National Library of Australia's Trove provide links to member institutions.

In the UK, JISC hosts the ArchivesHub, while the OCLC's ArchiveGrid provides an international portal for mostly library based institutions, which use MARC as a cataloguing tool for their holdings. The Association of Canadian Archivists (ACA) has partnered with the software company Artefactual to create ArchivesCanada, while the Australian Society of Archivists have used the same software for their Directory of Archives in Australia. Many other online search tools have been made available to facilitate search and discovery, including the Location Register of English Literary Manuscripts and Letters, the ArchiveSearch guide to archival materials in institutions in Cambridge, UK, and CARTOMAC: Archives littéraires d'Afrique .

If an archives cannot be found through online search or a publicly listed collection a researcher may have to track down its existence through other means, such as following other researcher's citations and references. This is particularly true for materials held by corporations or other organizations that may not employ an archivist and thus be unaware of the extent or contents of their materials. [6]

In very restricted archives, access may be restricted only to individuals with certain credentials or affiliations with institutions like universities and then only to those of a certain level. Those lacking the necessary credentials may need to request letters of introduction from an individual or institution to provide to the archive. [13]

Locating materials within archives

Archives usually contain unique materials and their organization may also be entirely unique or idiosyncratic to the institution or organization that maintains them. This is one important distinction with libraries where material is organized according to standardized classification systems. Traditionally, archives have followed the principle of respect des fonds in which the provenance and original order is maintained although some rearrangement, physical or intellectual, may be done by the archivist to facilitate its use. [14] [15] A basic guideline for archival description is the International Standard of Archival Description (General) (ISAD/G or ISAD), produced by the International Council on Archives (ICA). American institutions may also be guided by Describing Archives: a content standard (DACS) and in Canada by the Rules of Archival Description Archived 16 May 2017 at the Wayback Machine (RAD). Understanding how archival descriptions and finding aids are constructed is known as archival intelligence. [16] [17]

In addition to these standards and rules for creating hard copy and online listings and catalogues, archivists may also provide access to their catalogues through APIs or through the encoding standards EAD (Encoded archival description) (relating to the fonds, series, and items) and EAC (Encoded archival context)(the organisations and people that created the archives).

Finding aids are a common reference tool created by archivists for locating materials. They come in a variety of forms, such as registers, card catalogs, or inventories. [18] Many finding aids to archival documents are now hosted online as web pages or uploaded as documents, such as at the Library of Congress' Rare Book & Special Collections. The level of detail in finding aids can vary from granular item-level descriptions to coarse collection-level descriptions. [19] [20] If an archive has a large backlog of unprocessed materials, there may not be any kind of finding aid at all. [21] From around 2005, an ideology known as "More Product, Less Process", or MPLP, has been adopted by many North American collecting archives seeking to reduce processing time or alleviate backlogs to provide access to materials sooner, the results of which may be minimally described finding aids. [22]

Although most archive repositories welcome researchers, and have professional staff tasked with assisting them, the large quantity of records means that finding aids may be of only limited usefulness: the researcher will need to hunt through large quantities of documents in search of material relevant to his or her particular enquiry. Some records may be closed to public access for reasons of confidentiality; and others may be written in archaic handwriting, in ancient or foreign languages, or in technical terminology. Archival documents were generally created for immediate practical or administrative purposes, not for the benefit of future researchers, and additional contextual research may be necessary to make sense of them. Many of these challenges are exacerbated when the records are still in the custody of the generating body or in private hands, where owners or custodians may be unwilling to provide access to external enquirers, and where finding aids may be even more rudimentary or non-existent.

Consulting archival materials

On-site

Reading Room of the Maritime Research Center, San Francisco. In the foreground, a user is seated at a table and is consulting materials stored in archival boxes which are brought to them by staff. ResearchCenterPhotoByKirstenForWebsite960pxWide.jpg
Reading Room of the Maritime Research Center, San Francisco. In the foreground, a user is seated at a table and is consulting materials stored in archival boxes which are brought to them by staff.

Archival materials are usually held in closed stacks and non-circulating. [23] Users request to see specific materials from the archives and may only consult them on-site. [24] [25] After locating the relevant record location using a finding aid or other discovery tool a user may then have to submit the request to the archives, such as using a request form. [26] If an archives has part of its holdings located in a separate building or facility, it make take days or weeks to retrieve materials, requiring a user to submit their requests in advance of an on-site consultation. [27]

Reading room of the National Archives of Norway. In the foreground are overhead scanners. Since archival materials are unique, some archives may have equipment available for users to duplicate materials. Reading hall of the Norwegian National Archive (Gardmanahay).jpg
Reading room of the National Archives of Norway. In the foreground are overhead scanners. Since archival materials are unique, some archives may have equipment available for users to duplicate materials.

A reading room is a space, usually within or near the archive, where users can consult archival materials under staff supervision. The unique, fragile, or sensitive nature of some materials sometimes requires the certain kinds of restrictions on their use, handling, and/or duplication. Many archives restrict what kinds of items can be brought into a reading room from outside, such as pencils, notepads, bags, and even clothing, to guard against theft or risk of damage to materials. [28] Further restrictions may be placed on the number of materials that can be consulted at any given time, such as limiting a user to one box at a time and requiring all materials to be laid flat and visible at all times. [29] Some archives provide basic supplies including scrap paper and pencils or foam wedges for supporting unusually large materials. [4] Duplication services may be available at the archive although the policies, costs, and time required can vary. [30] [31] Increasingly, archives also allow users to use their own devices, such as handheld cameras, cell phones, and even scanners, to duplicate materials. [26] [32] The use of white or any other glove, while popular in television programs, is not necessarily required for handling archival documents, due to concerns about fragility of pages and text. [33] They may be required for handling volumes with poor bindings, if the gloves are removed for the internal pages to prevent transfer of dirt and other material, and should be used when handling photographs. Always check with the archivist as to whether gloves are required or not.

Archives may also provide access to content via microfilm (including fiche and other formats) due to the fragility or popularity of the original archive. Digital copies may also be provided for the same reason. Before asking for access to the original, users should make sure that the items that have been reformatted are suitable for the use for which they are required. Reasons for asking for access to original content might include the need to view a colour image (architectural perspective and elevation drawings, maps and plans, etc.) or for accessibility reasons (minor visual vertigo is usually not considered a reason for access to originals, as the effect can be mitigated by slower perusal of the film).

Some materials may contain information that concerns the privacy and confidentiality of living individuals, such as medical and student records, and demand special care. Materials that might contain personally identifiable information, such as social security numbers or names, must be handled appropriately, and an archive might provide redacted copies of materials or deny access to materials entirely due to privacy or other legislative concerns. [34] [35]

Off-site and electronic materials

More and more archival materials are being digitized or are born-digital enabling them to be accessed off-site through the internet or other networked services. Archives that have digital materials accessible to the public may make their holdings discoverable to internet search engines by sharing or exposing their electronic catalogs and/or metadata, using standards like the Open Archives Initiative Protocol for Metadata Harvesting (OAI-PMH). Some institutions have online portals where users can freely access digital materials that have been made available by the archive such as the Archives of the New York Public Library or the Smithsonian Institution Archives. Governments and their related institutions may use these "electronic", or "virtual", reading rooms to upload documents and materials that have been requested by the public such as through FOIA requests or in accordance with records disclosure policies. [36] [37] [38]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">National Archives and Records Administration</span> United States government agency

The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) is an independent agency of the United States government within the executive branch, charged with the preservation and documentation of government and historical records. It is also tasked with increasing public access to those documents that make up the National Archives. NARA is officially responsible for maintaining and publishing the legally authentic and authoritative copies of acts of Congress, presidential directives, and federal regulations. NARA also transmits votes of the Electoral College to Congress. It also examines Electoral College and constitutional amendment ratification documents for prima facie legal sufficiency and an authenticating signature.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Archive</span> Accumulation of historical records

An archive is an accumulation of historical records or materials – in any medium – or the physical facility in which they are located.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Digitization</span> Converting information into digital form

Digitization is the process of converting information into a digital format. The result is the representation of an object, image, sound, document, or signal obtained by generating a series of numbers that describe a discrete set of points or samples. The result is called digital representation or, more specifically, a digital image, for the object, and digital form, for the signal. In modern practice, the digitized data is in the form of binary numbers, which facilitates processing by digital computers and other operations, but digitizing simply means "the conversion of analog source material into a numerical format"; the decimal or any other number system can be used instead.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Archivist</span> Professional who preserves information for long-term use

An archivist is an information professional who assesses, collects, organizes, preserves, maintains control over, and provides access to records and archives determined to have long-term value. The records maintained by an archivist can consist of a variety of forms, including letters, diaries, logs, other personal documents, government documents, sound or picture recordings, digital files, or other physical objects.

The Archives Hub is a Jisc service, and is freely available to all. It provides a cross-search of descriptions of archives held across the United Kingdom, in over 320 institutions, including universities, colleges, specialist repositories, charities, businesses and other institutions. It includes over 1,000,000 descriptions of archive materials on all manner of subjects, which represents over 30,000 archive collections. It also describes content available through topic-based websites, often created as a result of digitisation projects.

Encoded Archival Description (EAD) is a standard for encoding descriptive information regarding archival records.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Archival science</span> Science of storage, registration and preservation of historical data

Archival science, or archival studies, is the study and theory of building and curating archives, which are collections of documents, recordings, photographs and various other materials in physical or digital formats.

ArchiveGrid is a collection of over five million archival material descriptions, including MARC records from WorldCat and finding aids harvested from the web. It contains archival collections held by thousands of libraries, museums, historical societies, and archives. Contribution to the system is available to any institution. Most of the contributions are from United States based institutions, but many other countries are represented, including Canada, Australia, and the United Kingdom. ArchiveGrid is associated with OCLC Research and helps to advance their goals of making archival collections and materials easier to find. ArchiveGrid is described as "the ultimate destination for searching through family histories, political papers, and historical records held in archives around the world."

A finding aid, in the context of archival science and archival research, is an organization tool, a document containing detailed and processed metadata and other information about a specific collection of records within an archive. Finding aids often consist of a documentary inventory and description of the materials, their source, and their structure. The finding aid for a fonds is usually compiled by the collection's entity of origin, provenance, or by an archivist during archival processing, and may be considered the archival science equivalent of a library catalog or a museum collection catalog. The finding aid serves the purpose of locating specific information within the collection. The finding aid can also help the archival repository manage their materials and resources.

Archival processing is the act of surveying, arranging, describing, and performing basic preservation activities on the recorded material of an individual, family, or organization after they are permanently transferred to an archive. A person engaging in this activity is known as an archival processor, archival technician, or archivist.

In archival science and archive administration, appraisal is a process usually conducted by members of the record-holding institution in which a body of records is examined to determine its value for that institution. It also involves determining how long this value will last. The activity is one of the central tasks of an archivist, to determine the archival value of specific records. When it occurs prior to acquisition, the appraisal process involves assessing records for inclusion in the archives. In connection with an institution's collecting policy, appraisal "represents a doorway into the archives through which all records must pass". Some considerations when conducting appraisal include how to meet the record-granting body's organizational needs, how to uphold requirements of organizational accountability, and how to meet the expectations of the record-using community.

Describing Archives: A Content Standard (DACS) is a standard used for describing materials in archives. First adopted by the Society of American Archivists (SAA) in March 2004, DACS was updated with a Second Edition in 2013. DACS is broken down into a set of rules used in crafting archival descriptions, and guidelines for creating authority records in archives.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Digital library</span> Online database of digital objects stored in electronic media formats and accessible via computers

A digital library is an online database of digital objects that can include text, still images, audio, video, digital documents, or other digital media formats or a library accessible through the internet. Objects can consist of digitized content like print or photographs, as well as originally produced digital content like word processor files or social media posts. In addition to storing content, digital libraries provide means for organizing, searching, and retrieving the content contained in the collection. Digital libraries can vary immensely in size and scope, and can be maintained by individuals or organizations. The digital content may be stored locally, or accessed remotely via computer networks. These information retrieval systems are able to exchange information with each other through interoperability and sustainability.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Smithsonian Libraries and Archives</span> System of libraries at the Smithsonian Institution, United States

Smithsonian Libraries and Archives is an institutional archives and library system comprising 21 branch libraries serving the various Smithsonian Institution museums and research centers. The Libraries and Archives serve Smithsonian Institution staff as well as the scholarly community and general public with information and reference support. Its collections number nearly 3 million volumes including 50,000 rare books and manuscripts.

In the context of libraries and archives, an inventory refers to a detailed list or record of the items, materials, or resources held within a collection.

A memory institution is an organization maintaining a repository of public knowledge, a generic term used about institutions such as libraries, archives, heritage institutions, aquaria and arboreta, and zoological and botanical gardens, as well as providers of digital libraries and data aggregation services which serve as memories for given societies or mankind. Memory institutions serve the purpose of documenting, contextualizing, preserving and indexing elements of human culture and collective memory. These institutions allow and enable society to better understand themselves, their past, and how the past impacts their future. These repositories are ultimately preservers of communities, languages, cultures, customs, tribes, and individuality. Memory institutions are repositories of knowledge, while also being actors of the transitions of knowledge and memory to the community. These institutions ultimately remain some form of collective memory. Increasingly such institutions are considered as a part of a unified documentation and information science perspective.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">National Recording Preservation Plan</span>

The National Recording Preservation Plan is a strategic guide for the preservation of sound recordings in the United States. It was published in December 2012 by the Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR) and the National Recording Preservation Board of the Library of Congress. The plan was written by a community of specialists, but is prominently credited to Brenda Nelson-Strauss, Alan Gevinson and Sam Brylawski

"More Product, Less Process: Revamping Traditional Archival Processing" is a 2005 archival science article written by Mark A. Greene and Dennis Meissner that first appeared in the Fall/Winter 2005 issue of The American Archivist. The paper argues that traditional archival processing is too slow, and advocates for the use of minimal processing in order to reduce backlogs and provide access to archival collections as quickly as possible. The ideology presented in the article, abbreviated as MPLP, has since been widely adopted in modern archival theory with subsequent praise directed primarily towards the ability to increase user accessibility without prohibiting the option for future processing.

Elizabeth Yakel is an archivist, researcher, and educator in information science. Yakel is known for work advancing archival practice, the use of primary sources in archives education, studies of data reuse practices, and digital curation. Yakel is the senior associate dean for academic affairs and a professor at the University of Michigan School of Information, where she has been on the faculty since 2000. She is the former coordinator of the Preservation of Information specialization in the Master of Science in Information program and teaches in the Archives and Record Management area. She specializes in digital archives and digital preservation and has developed five such graduate level courses at UM, including "Economics of Sustainable Digital Information" and "Practical Engagement Workshop in Digital Preservation."

Social Networks and Archival Context (SNAC) is an online project for discovering, locating, and using distributed historical records in regard to individual people, families, and organizations.

References

  1. ↑ International Council on Archives. "Multilingual Archival Terminology". International Council on Archives.
  2. ↑ Society of American Archivists. "A glossary of archival and records terminology".
  3. ↑ Archive.gov. National Records and Archive Administration, 1 December 2009. Web. 5 December 2009 <https://www.archives.gov/research/start/>.
  4. 1 2 Ramsey, Alexis E., ed. (2010). Working in the archives : practical research methods for rhetoric and composition. Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press. ISBN   9781441645975. OCLC   613205862.
  5. ↑ L'Eplattenier, Barbara E. (2009). "An Argument for Archival Research Methods: Thinking Beyond Methodology". College English. 72 (1): 67–79. JSTOR   25653008.
  6. 1 2 3 Welch, Catherine (January 2000). "The archaeology of business networks: the use of archival records in case study research". Journal of Strategic Marketing. 8 (2): 197–208. doi:10.1080/0965254x.2000.10815560. S2CID   52203137.
  7. ↑ Ramsey, Alexis E., ed. (2010). Working in the archives : practical research methods for rhetoric and composition . Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press. pp.  82–83. ISBN   9781441645975. OCLC   613205862.
  8. ↑ Duff, Wendy; Johnson, Catherine (January 2003). "Where Is the List with All the Names? Information-Seeking Behavior of Genealogists". The American Archivist. 66 (1): 79–95. doi: 10.17723/aarc.66.1.l375uj047224737n .
  9. ↑ Yakel, Elizabeth (2004). "Seeking Information, Seeking Connections, Seeking Meaning: Genealogists and Family Historians". Information Research. 10 (1).
  10. ↑ Anonymous (26 April 2012). "Collections Access Policies". Smithsonian Institution Archives. Retrieved 18 November 2018.
  11. ↑ "General Information about Restricted Records". National Archives. 15 August 2016. Retrieved 18 November 2018.
  12. ↑ "Copyright and Unpublished Material | Society of American Archivists". www2.archivists.org. Retrieved 27 November 2018.
  13. ↑ R., Hill, Michael (1993). Archival strategies and techniques . Newbury Park: Sage Publications. ISBN   978-0803948242. OCLC   28668848.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  14. ↑ "Archives and Records Management Resources". National Archives. 15 August 2016. Retrieved 24 November 2018.
  15. ↑ "1. What are Arrangement and Description?". scaa.usask.ca. Archived from the original on 5 December 2018. Retrieved 24 November 2018.
  16. ↑ "Do you have archival intelligence".
  17. ↑ Yakel, Elizabeth; Torres, Deborah (January 2003). "AI: Archival Intelligence and User Expertise". The American Archivist. 66 (1): 51–78. doi:10.17723/aarc.66.1.q022h85pn51n5800.
  18. ↑ "finding aid | Society of American Archivists". www2.archivists.org. Retrieved 17 November 2018.
  19. ↑ "Archive Descriptions - Archives Hub". archiveshub.jisc.ac.uk. Retrieved 17 November 2018.
  20. ↑ "level of description | Society of American Archivists". www2.archivists.org. Retrieved 17 November 2018.
  21. ↑ Ramsey, Alexis E., ed. (2010). Working in the archives : practical research methods for rhetoric and composition . Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press. pp.  81. ISBN   9781441645975. OCLC   613205862.
  22. ↑ Ramsey, Alexis E., ed. (2010). Working in the archives : practical research methods for rhetoric and composition . Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press. pp.  65–66. ISBN   9781441645975. OCLC   613205862.
  23. ↑ R., Hill, Michael (1993). Archival strategies and techniques. Newbury Park: Sage Publications. p. 24. ISBN   978-0803948242. OCLC   28668848.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  24. ↑ "Using the Archives | University Archives Blog". archives.library.ubc.ca. Retrieved 24 November 2018.
  25. ↑ "Archive of World Music". Harvard Library. Retrieved 24 November 2018.
  26. 1 2 "Military Archives - The National Institute for Defense Studies". nids.mod.go.jp. Retrieved 24 November 2018.
  27. ↑ "Research Visit FAQs". National Archives. 11 February 2016. Retrieved 24 November 2018.
  28. ↑ Archives, The National. "What can I take into the reading rooms? - The National Archives". The National Archives. Retrieved 23 November 2018.
  29. ↑ "Regulations for NARA Researchers". National Archives. 15 August 2016. Retrieved 23 November 2018.
  30. ↑ "A Survival Guide to Archival Research: | Perspectives on History | AHA". historians.org. Retrieved 24 November 2018.
  31. ↑ "Reproduction Orders". Hoover Institution. Retrieved 24 November 2018.
  32. ↑ "Information for Researchers". National Archives. 15 August 2016. Retrieved 24 November 2018.
  33. ↑ Baker, Cathleen A.; Silverman, Randy (December 2005). "Misperceptions about White Gloves" (PDF). International Preservation News. 37: 4–16.
  34. ↑ Taube, Daniel O.; Burkhardt, Susan (March 1997). "Ethical and Legal Risks Associated With Archival Research". Ethics & Behavior. 7 (1): 59–67. doi:10.1207/s15327019eb0701_5. PMID   11654858.
  35. ↑ "[Ask an Archivist]: When to Restrict Personally Identifiable Information (PII)". SNAP Section. 17 February 2016. Retrieved 24 November 2018.
  36. ↑ "NARA Electronic Reading Room/FOIA Library". National Archives. 31 August 2016. Retrieved 24 November 2018.
  37. ↑ "Records Request Reading Room". Smithsonian Institution. Retrieved 24 November 2018.
  38. ↑ "FOIA: Reading Room - Golden Gate National Recreation Area (U.S. National Park Service)". nps.gov. Retrieved 24 November 2018.

LibGuides on Archival Research

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