By Dennis Powell, e-Management

Do your family or friends accuse you of being a packrat? Do you know people who find it hard to throw away documents, old photos, shoes, children’s clothing, wedding dresses, 8-track cassettes, or even electronics (that probably don’t even work)? If so, then this blog short on the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) may be relevant to you. After all, your stored collections of things could be considered your personal archives.

Four things you may not know about the National Archives…
You could probably tell compelling stories around every item in your personal archives. But what do you know about our National Archives? You probably know it is a great resource to gain access to historical facts. Technically, NARA is the agency responsible for keeping U.S. government records. The Archives is the actual collection of records and artifacts that Congress established back in 1934. Why are records so important? Well, records teach us about our history and can showcase some of our best moments and serve as a reminder of our missteps (e.g. political, fashion, musical etc.) we should avoid collectively. The truth is NARA is probably one of the least known government agencies. So, we decided to feature four things you may not know about the Archives or NARA…

1. It takes a cast of thousands to keep NARA running smoothly. When many people think of the Archives, they oftentimes only consider the Pennsylvania Avenue building in Washington, D.C. In truth, there are more than 40 centers across the country. In addition, more than 3,000 fulltime and part-time employees support those centers, which includes numerous presidential libraries.
2. The Archives is on social media. More than 5 million people visited the Archives Facebook page in December (2014). If you cannot make it to the Washington or field sites of the Archives, check out “Today’s Document” on social media like , Twitter, and . The official records keeper highlights famous and less-known (yet historically relevant) documents every day from the enormous Archives collection. It’s a great way to connect to American history. Believe it or not, the Today’s Document social media updates are so popular, an interactive app is now available. To gain access to the app, search for “Today’s Document” on Google Play or iTunes. If you are a history buff who loves Twitter, you may want to get short updates (140-character “tweets”) by following the Archives on .
3. The Archives plan to upload its entire (declassified) collection to the Internet. Hundreds of thousands of digital images from the Archives is already available for free at Wikimedia Commons, an online database of nearly 25 million media files. TechCrunch blogger Julian Chokkattu reported that NARA initially uploaded more than 100,000 images to the Commons in 2012 as a way to make the Archives collections more accessible. During federal fiscal year 2013, NARA media received more than one billion views. Fans of presidents might be interested in what we found in the Archives collection on the Commons: a sailing ship illustration by a young Franklin D. Roosevelt (the longest serving president in U.S. history); a photo of Civil Rights legends Martin Luther King, Jr., Whitney Young, and James Farmer meeting President Lyndon B. Johnson; and President Ronald Reagan’s family photo from the 1981 Inauguration.
4. You can find documents that changed the world. The National Archives is a treasure trove of documents that have had a profound impact on American history. You can find the Louisiana Purchase Treaty, which doubled the size of the U.S. in the 19th century; the U.S. Declaration of Independence from Great Britain; the Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Implementation Decree, which outlawed segregation; and the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which provided universal suffrage.

Don’t repeat it…
To paraphrase novelist and philosopher George Santayana, “Those who do not learn history are doomed to repeat it.” Lucky for us, we have NARA to preserve our national heritage and history. But what do you think: (1) Have you ever been to any of the national or international archival facilities? (2) How do you store your important memories or records? (3) How do you safeguard your most precious historical artifacts or mementos?