Improve Access to Information on Cultural and Natural Resources

archived

The National Park Service (NPS) creates resource management records in the course of daily business which are considered permanent. These records incorporate the long history of assembling data on and managing park cultural and natural resources during the past century. Over 40% of known agency archives are uncataloged. The need to utilize information in these inaccessible records grows daily. This project provides an archives-focused educational work experience for archeology, archives, and digital information students which will complement classroom instruction through continuing efforts to inventory and digitize archival collections to improve park and public access to archival information of the NPS. Students, in cooperation with archivists from the Intermountain Region Museum Services Program will inventory an estimated 1 million uncataloged archives housed at the Western Archeological and Conservation Center (WACC), Tucson, Arizona, to provide initial information about collection contents. An estimated 35,000 items from the Western Archeological and Conservation Centerâ¿¿s Ruins Stabilization collection and several smaller archeological and historic preservation collections will be digitized. These collections are part of on-going efforts to share information, while providing experience with applying the National Archives and Records Administration digitization protocols and best practices.

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