NARA rolls made digital

[AvB]

T314 AK has not been digitized by NARA yet. But see the many available there to get an idea on maps: http://wwiidigitalarchives.org/t314-arm ... nzer-corps

I have been in the Bundesarchiv and comparing the contents of the folder there with NARA rolls and they are definitely not exact copies. Maps are missing in NARA. And sometimes different copies of folders have been microfilmed. The Ausfertigungs-nr of one folder was different from the one in the Bundesarchiv...

[Mori]

Absolutetly: copies don't match 100%. NARA didn't copy everything, contrary to what Richard Weinberg claimed. BAMA received documents later and added them to their collection. And some documents were stolen/lost over the years and only the 1950s microfilms still exist.

It's been observed by many scholars, see comments in the "sources" section of academic works. But it's still a surprise the first time when you see it with your own eyes.

[Max104740]

Short tutorial for DownThemAll!
Image URL is accessible through right-click on "download full size image":
(note: I add a space after http:// to display the URL in full, remove it if you copy/paste)
https:// catalog.archives.gov/catalogmedia/lz/dc-metro/rg-242/7820260/T77/T77-0001/T77-0001-0001.jpg

Go to "Manager" of DtA!
Click on the blue cross ("Add download")
Paste the URL
Make it a range thanks to edits in bold:
https:// catalog.archives.gov/catalogmedia/lz/dc-metro/rg-242/7820260/T77/T77-0001/T77-0001-[0001:1500].jpg

Press Enter twice, and download starts.

***

Since the syntax is consistent across the rolls, you can move to the next roll by changing a couple of underlined digits:

https:// catalog.archives.gov/catalogmedia/lz/dc-metro/rg-242/7820260/T77/T77-0002/T77-0002-[0001:1500].jpg

The occasional rolls with more than 1,500 frames require to copy/paste another URL.

Thank you Mori for this suggestion.
I used DtA and it worked well, with some troubles deriving from two points that I found different:

• to find the complete URL of an image I had to set in Dta impostation for the Manager "show URL instead of Names" and download a single image so I could see the URL in the download summary in Manager;
  the URL for a T 77 file that worked is different from the one you published. To download frames 346-472 of T 77 R 13 I had to use https:// s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/dc-metro/rg-242/7820260/T77/T77-0013/T77-0013-[0346:0472].jpg, (note: I too add a space after https:// to display the URL in full, remove it if you copy/paste), I did not use bold edit. Did NARA change server?

An other odd fact with using Firefox: using Firefox T 77 R 13 opened with the order of the page from end to beginning of the roll, but the URL were the same.
I hope this may be useful for someone,
all the best
Max

[Mori]

the URL for a T 77 file that worked is different from the one you published. To download frames 346-472 of T 77 R 13 I had to use https:// s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/dc-metro/rg-242/7820260/T77/T77-0013/T77-0013-[0346:0472].jpg,

Yes, they changed the server for the amazon cloud. Thanks for updating.

An other odd fact with using Firefox: using Firefox T 77 R 13 opened with the order of the page from end to beginning of the roll, but the URL were the same.

It's convenient for full download, actually. You know where it ends right away.

[nickterry]

NARA RG 238, T998, 54 reels - prosecution exhibits submitted to IMT (US, UK, France, USSR) has just been added to the new catalog; I've added T998 to my master index.

[nickterry]

NARA RG 238, T998, 54 reels - prosecution exhibits submitted to IMT (US, UK, France, USSR) has just been added to the new catalog; I've added T998 to my master index.

More RG 238 - three more NMT trials, so they're now halfway through the 12 successor trials. The upload totalled 199 reels, so that was 253 reels this week, they've now uploaded over 450 reels in RG 238.

M887 United States v. Karl Brandt et al (NMT Case I, aka the Doctors' Trial, 46 reeels)
M888 United States v. Erhard Milch (NMT Case II, 13 reels)
M889 United States v. Josef Alstoetter, et al (NMT Case III, aka the Justice Trial, 53 reels)
M890 United States v. Oswald Pohl, et al (NMT Case IV, aka the WVHA Trial, 38 reels)
M892 United States v. Carl Krauch, et al (NMT Case VI, aka the IG Farben Trial, 113 reels)
M893 United States v. Wilhelm List, et al (NMT Case VII, aka the Hostages Trial, 48 reels)

as these trials aren't given an overall series link but have sub-series for transcripts, exhibits etc, the best thing to do is search through the master RG 238 listing for Karl Brandt etc
https://catalog.archives.gov/search-wit ... aId%3Adesc

All updated on the master index: http://holocaustcontroversies.blogspot. ... s-and.html

NARA are evidently chomping through RG 238, either before returning to RG 242, or in parallel to chomping through one of the biggies in RG 242. Within RG 238, they have 429 reels of the six remaining NMT trials to go, along with 47 reels of the NOKW-series and 164 reels of the NI-series, plus the 91 reels of NMT interrogations, and some smaller series. So they're over a third but under halfway through RG 238's microfilms.Whatever the sequencing turns out to be, more digitised reels means NARA is closer to uploading whatever it is you're longing for.

Merry Christmas!

[Stp Leo]

Hello everyone,

First of all, a Happy Christmas to you !

I am looking for the T-1022 R3651, does someone have it ? Thank you very much !

Leo

[nickterry]

As a last-minute stocking filler, NARA just uploaded in RG 238:
https://catalog.archives.gov/search-wit ... aId%3Adesc

M894 United States v. Ulrich Greifelt, et al (NMT Case VIII, aka the RuSHA Trial, 38 reels)
M895 United States v. Otto Ohlendorf, et al (NMT Case IX, aka the Einsatzgruppen Trial, 38 reels)
M896 United States v. Alfried Krupp, et al (NMT Case X, aka the Krupp Trial, 69 reels)

Here's hoping this momentum continues through to the new year!

[nickterry]

First upload of the new year: RG 238, M897, NMT Ministries Trial - 173 reels. Only two NMT trials left to go, plus two big document series (NI- and NOKW-docs).

ETA: reel 1 contains a proper index of document books/exhibits and witnesses.

[nickterry]

In the past year, NARA have uploaded over 6,000 microfilm reels from RGs 238 and 242, while also extensively digitising US history records, including lots from Presidential libraries (through to Clinton and Bush Sr).

The 'what's new' page at NARA is updated every month or so, the current list clearly goes up only to the end of December 2022, but the collections highlighted show an interesting mix. RG 238/242 is quite prominent but far from the only record groups they're working on.
https://www.archives.gov/research/catalog/whats-new

There does seem to be a preference for digitising microfilms, presumably because this can be semi-automated, since several microfilm series within RG 59, State Department Central Decimal Files, are also digitised, including the 400-reel series on WWI and its aftermath (M367) and a very interesting 6-reel series of reports on Ukraine 1918-1949 (M1286).

They are however also digitising paper files, as can be seen if one searches the entire catalog for German, Germany, Poland etc - one of the latest additions is 8,763 files of awards to Dutch citizens for helping rescue US pilots, in RG 498, records of the ETO Headquarters. These were scanned in colour: https://catalog.archives.gov/id/5709392
While historians might not prioritise such collections, scanning medal awards files is quite common with archives, the British National Archives have also scanned a lot of these. The series was done in full and has doubled the amount digitised within RG 498.

As NARA aim to release entire series in one go, there's no way of knowing whether they have detoured to do RG 238 or are also continuing with RG 242 and will soon release a big microfilm series in RG 242. But at the very least, they are uploading an average of 500 reels from RGs 238 and 242 a month. I don't expect that to change. RG 238 will be 'done' for microfilms within a month, given what is left. The paper files for RG 238 will keep this at a low % of completion but they'll be fully done with the available microfilms very shortly.

The Alexandria, VA 'core' of RG 242 is about 15,000 reels in size, of which they've done 5,200, so I'd think they will be fully done with this either within the year - if they have another worker bee or scanning machine on the case - or during 2024. The test will be when the next RG 242 series appears, whether this is before they finish RG 238 microfilms or if a big series is uploaded faster than the 500 reel/month average they had in 2022. In any case, we can reasonably expect at least another 5,200 microfilms of RG 242 in 2023. I think we can expect more, the really big series from T312-T315 come to 6,234 reels, but I would not currently expect them to have finished all of those in 2023 - we'll just have to see.


Thank you, in any case, to all US citizens and residents - your tax dollars are much appreciated

[MLW]

You can expect a slow down. NARA is at least one year behind where it wants its digitization process to be. And now, I have been told, the new priority for the microfilm digitization process is to scan all rolls associated with Camp Lejeune and the class-action legal suit. I do not know how many rolls that is, but judging from the stack of cardboard boxes in the research room, it could be a 1,000 or more. Another possible bottle neck is the uploading of the rolls to NARA's online catalog. That is not done by the same folks who digitize the rolls and, because of the large file sizes, must be done at NARA. Meanwhile there is a push to have more employees, including those that do the file uploading, to work off-site from home. I will caveat everything I just wrote, by saying my information is pieced together by talking to various NARA employees. Take it for what it is worth.

[Mori]

You can expect a slow down. NARA is at least one year behind where it wants its digitization process to be. And now, I have been told, the new priority for the microfilm digitization process is to scan all rolls associated with Camp Lejeune and the class-action legal suit. I do not know how many rolls that is, but judging from the stack of cardboard boxes in the research room, it could be a 1,000 or more. Another possible bottle neck is the uploading of the rolls to NARA's online catalog. That is not done by the same folks who digitize the rolls and, because of the large file sizes, must be done at NARA. Meanwhile there is a push to have more employees, including those that do the file uploading, to work off-site from home. I will caveat everything I just wrote, by saying my information is pieced together by talking to various NARA employees. Take it for what it is worth.

Thanks for the insights.

By the way, will all that influence your own policy with digitalhistoryarchive? I think your latest catalog still has for sale many of the rolls now free on the official archive.gov site :roll: ...

[nickterry]

You can expect a slow down. NARA is at least one year behind where it wants its digitization process to be. And now, I have been told, the new priority for the microfilm digitization process is to scan all rolls associated with Camp Lejeune and the class-action legal suit. I do not know how many rolls that is, but judging from the stack of cardboard boxes in the research room, it could be a 1,000 or more. Another possible bottle neck is the uploading of the rolls to NARA's online catalog. That is not done by the same folks who digitize the rolls and, because of the large file sizes, must be done at NARA. Meanwhile there is a push to have more employees, including those that do the file uploading, to work off-site from home. I will caveat everything I just wrote, by saying my information is pieced together by talking to various NARA employees. Take it for what it is worth.

Thanks for the info. 1,000 reels is not actually a lot, especially when one considers that the contents of the microfilm reading room are being attacked by multiple partners for the passenger manifests, muster rolls, draft cards and other materials - Ancestry, FamilySearch and Fold3 have all been at them in 2022 going by the 'what's new' spreadsheets.

That has freed up other contractors and in-house NARA workers to tackle other parts of the microfilm reading room - as mentioned, the 400 or so reels of M367 re WWI and its aftermath within RG 59 went up at some point. The what's new spreadsheets indicate a lot of in-house work on RG 24 Navy muster rolls, and also some sharing of effort between partners and NARA for other materials such as RG 75 Bureau of Indian Affairs - Ancestry did some series, NARA did some other microfilm series.

My assumption has been that digitising microfilms is slightly easier, and that this may be one reason we've benefited from so much from RGs 238 and 242. There were significant gaps in 2022 between RG 242 series, and the spreadsheets show that the series were sometimes tackled in-house, sometimes by 'contractor'. The series were uploaded in one go, with the T77 series' 1700 reels appearing at virtually the same time as other series, but months after T501 had gone up (in Jan/Feb 2022). It clearly takes a good while to get through that many microfilms. So the likelihood of gaps between uploads has always been there. The RG 238 microfilms have had the benefit of being relatively small series, so they've been releasing at regular intervals. If you say there's a bottleneck in the uploading of files to the catalog, then that makes sense.

Considering how many other areas of history might be clamoured for by NARA users, we've been extremely lucky, after many years of not much being added re WWII. So the progress made with other areas and series is generally encouraging, as is the relative balance - the WWII era isn't the only one benefiting from digitisation.

It is nonetheless conspicuous that microfilm series go up a little easier and faster, whatever the topic, and one presumes there's a strategic plan for eventually eliminating the microfilm reading room. That doesn't mean all 70,000 microfilm reels within RG 242's various series will appear on the catalog overnight, or even within the next few years. But the progress so far has chomped through quite a lot of microfilm series, certainly the equivalent of entire shelves of drawers of microfilms, for those that have been in the microfilm reading room.

[MLW]

I get the impression that the process, while organized with production schedules and spreadsheets, etc., is under constant external pressures that adversely impact the schedule.

[smetanin albert]

This was said by a person who constantly works in this archive :roll: