NARA: “By the Numbers: 2010-2022” by David Ferriero, Archivist of the United States

From an AOTUS Blog Post by David Ferriero, Archivist of the United States:

Numbers never tell the whole story, but they do provide insights that are useful for understanding the scope and impact of our work. Here are some of the numbers we have tracked that indicate how we have grown to make access happen, connect with customers, and maximize our value to the nation from 2010 to 2022.

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The people also go to Wikipedia. In 2011 I hired NARA’s first Wikipedian-in-Residence who worked with the local Wikipedian community to ensure that our records were available on their website.  The results were phenomenal. NARA records received 1,274,493,206 views on Wikipedia in 2013, and the numbers kept climbing; by  2021, we received 2,110,071,649 views. Compare this to our archives.gov site, which received 29,351,833 views in 2013 and grew to 231,551,478 views in 2021. Impressive numbers for our website, but nothing like the turbo power of Wikipedia for getting views. NARA now provides data and digital copies of our records to numerous Wikimedia sites, including Wikimedia Commons and Wikidata.

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The 10 Most Viewed Records in the Catalog in 2021:

1. Engrossed Declaration of Independence (NAID 1419123)
2. Constitution of the United States (NAID 1667751)
3. Population Schedules for the 1910 Census, 1910 – 1910 (NAID 2353588)
4. Bill of Rights (NAID 1408042)
5. The Final Rolls of Citizens and Freedmen of the Five Civilized Tribes in Indian Territory (NAID 300321)
6. Index to the Final Rolls of Citizens and Freedmen of the Five Civilized Tribes in Indian Territory (NAID 300320)
7. Emancipation Proclamation (NAID 299998)
8. Population Schedules for the 1940 Census (NAID 16660414)
9. Corporation of the City of Washington, D.C. 1802-6/1/1871 (NAID 10488163)
10. Engrossed Dockets, 1791 – 1995 (NAID 1524561)

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We have also reached out to other websites to share our records.  NARA has supported the Digital Public Library of America since its inception in 2011. We co-hosted their 2015 annual conference along with the Smithsonian and Library of Congress. Today NARA is the largest contributor to DPLA’s online platform.

Learn More, Read the Complete Blog Post

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