The West Virginia Department of Health’s Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, alongside the West Virginia State Police, the West Virginia Fusion Center, and Marshall University, has made significant strides in forming the West Virginia Forensic Genealogy Commission. This initiative aims to expedite the identification of unidentified human remains, offering hope and closure to families statewide.

The commission is the culmination of efforts led by state legislators, including Senators Vince Deeds and Tom Takubo, who championed the enabling legislation.

Secretary of Health Sherri Young emphasized the commission's importance: "This represents a crucial step in restoring hope and closure to families facing the pain of uncertainty. We will leverage the latest forensic technology to treat unidentified remains with dignity."

Matt Izzo, Chief Administrator of the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, noted, "This collaboration provides a more efficient avenue for submissions, addressing the backlogs created by previous processes."

An agreement with Marshall University and the West Virginia State Police Forensic Lab allows for DNA profiling of unidentified remains. To date, over 32 cases and multiple samples have been processed, enabling potential matches through the Combined DNA Index System (CODIS) or direct familial comparisons via the Marshall University Forensic Science Center. Law enforcement will assist in collecting reference samples from family members when leads arise.

Laura Kuyper, Director of the Marshall University Forensic Science Center, stated, "We are honored to support this program, which will enhance traditional DNA testing with next-generation sequencing technologies."

Senator Vince Deeds commented, "As a former law enforcement officer, I know how vital it is to provide closure to families. This commission is a powerful tool for identifying the unidentified and a lifeline for those seeking answers."

Senator Tom Takubo added, "This partnership illustrates the power of strong government support for private-public collaborations, showcasing the incredible outcomes that can be achieved. I am confident this initiative will set new standards for law enforcement procedures in West Virginia and nationwide.”

Jack Luikart, Director of the Fusion Center, added “We are very thankful for the opportunity and look forward to collaborating in the effort to bring new technology and resources to our state’s law enforcement to resolve unsolved crimes. Our goal is to make West Virginia the leader in this area of expertise.” 

Since launching in late spring, the commission has achieved two positive identifications within three months, with ongoing investigations. If initial efforts are inconclusive, the commission will partner with the RGEN Company and the West Virginia Fusion Center to create genealogical profiles using ancestry databases, providing another potential identification pathway.

Grand Prairie Police Cold Case Detectives, with the assistance of the Texas Department of Public Safety, have solved a 16-year-old cold case.

On Aug. 8, 2008, at around 6:15 p.m., the Grand Prairie Police Department responded to assist the Grand Prairie Fire Department with a structure fire in the 2600 block of Channing Drive. Inside the residence, firefighters located a deceased male who was identified as Raymond Hernandez, 45 years of age.

Autopsy results determined Hernandez was the victim of a homicide. DNA from a possible suspect was collected at the scene and entered into the CODIS in November 2008. At the time, there was no matching DNA in CODIS to identify the potential suspect, nor were there any other cases where this suspect’s DNA profile matched any other victims.

In February 2022, Grand Prairie Police (Texas) Cold Case Detectives began collaborating with the Texas Department of Public Safety – Texas Rangers to utilize the Sexual Assault Kit Initiative (SAKI). Forensic genetic genealogical testing of the potential suspect’s DNA was searched through a third-party laboratory.

In September 2024, an investigative lead was developed through the genealogical search. Detectives were able to obtain a DNA sample and confirm the lead.

On Oct. 4, 2024, Grand Prairie Police Cold Case Detectives, with the assistance of the Texas DPS-Texas Rangers and the Lufkin, Texas Police Department, arrested Jerry Lee Gardner, 44 years of age, at his residence in Lufkin, for the murder of Raymond Hernandez.

He is currently in the Grand Prairie Detention Center on the charge of Capital Murder with a bond set at $1,000,000.

On Aug. 23, the Chester Fritz Library made a unique donation to Norway House, a Minneapolis-based Norwegian cultural center. Curt Hanson, head of Elwyn B. Robinson Department of Special Collections at the library, drove to Minneapolis with 150 bygdebøker in tow.

Bygdebøker, roughly translated as “farm books” or “village books,” are invaluable resources for genealogists. They contain detailed family lineages and local histories from Norway. Each book covers the history of a specific Norwegian county (referred to in Norway as et fylke), complete with family and school pictures and legal and death records, among other things.

Hanson said that UND’s Arnie G. Brekke Bygdebøk Collection is the largest of its kind in the U.S. and, with more than 1,600 volumes, rivals some of Norway’s collections.

“We’ve been collecting bygdebøker since the 1980s, because North Dakota has such a large population with Norwegian ancestry,” Hanson said. “Arne Brekke, who taught in the Languages Department, helped the library start its collection, and he’s largely responsible for how big it is today.”

Bygdebøker are not widely circulated, and many are written exclusively in Norwegian, so finding specific volumes outside of Norway is a rarity. This specificity has made them a frequently requested resource at the library, Hanson said, which motivated the library to expand its collection. But over the decades, the library ended up with more duplicate volumes than it knew what to do with.

Mike Swanson, a former Chester Fritz Library archivist, proposed that UND donate its duplicates after he learned that Norway House was expanding its building. This expansion, which opened in 2022 with a ribbon cutting attended by Queen Sonja of Norway, includes a space for genealogical research materials and other historical texts provided by the library.

“They’ve just kind of been sitting in a room collecting dust here at the library,” Hanson said. “When Mike found out that Norway House was building up its own library, we thought it was the perfect opportunity to give these books to people who would really appreciate them.”

Race Fisher, development associate at Norway House, said the donation will be an important addition to the library’s growing collection. While many of the books are untranslated, aspiring genealogists need only a few words to navigate the texts and connect to their history, Fisher said.

“It’s incredible what you can find in these books,” he said. “Sometimes they’ll trace your family back as far as the 1600s; a few pages of a bygdebøk can uncover centuries of family history. But it also allows people to make tangible connections to people in contemporary Norway.

“It’s this kind of circular exchange that happens when people do genealogical research.”

As a cultural center, Norway House is in the business of connecting its American patrons to their ancestry and heritage. Until now, they’ve regularly tapped UND and other institutions for help with bygdeboker, but Fisher hopes that having a collection in-house will encourage visitors to reflect on Norway’s history and their own as their recent renovations continue to bring foot traffic.

“UND’s reputation for having this great collection of bygdebøker, and the University’s willingness to help people as they begin this journey has been really meaningful,” Fisher said. “We’re really grateful for UND’s willingness to make this contribution. It’s so exciting to offer these resources to our patrons and the larger Norwegian American community.”

A Russian-aligned propaganda network notorious for creating deepfake whistleblower videos appears to be behind a coordinated effort to promote wild and baseless claims that Minnesota governor and vice presidential candidate Tim Walz sexually assaulted one of his former students, according to several specialists tracking the disinformation campaign.

Experts believe that the campaign is tied to a network called Storm-1516, which has been linked to, among other things, a previous effort that falsely claimed vice president Kamala Harris perpetrated a hit-and-run in San Francisco in 2011. Storm-1516 has a long history of posting fake whistleblower videos, and often deepfake videos, to push Kremlin talking points to the West.

The propaganda unit’s work has successfully reached the highest levels of the Republican party, with vice presidential candidate JD Vance repeating at least one of their narratives. NBC reported this week that the group has pushed at least 50 false narratives in this manner since last fall, which comes amid a broader Russian government effort to disrupt next month’s election with the aim of helping former president Donald Trump return to the White House.

You can read more in an article by David Gilbert published in the Wired web site at: https://tinyurl.com/ye2x3bvk.

U.S. Government Publishing Office (GPO) has added more than 3,000 volumes of the Congressional Serial Set containing more than 45,000 individual documents and reports to GPO’s GovInfo, the one-stop site for authentic, published information for all three branches of the Federal Government. This comes as part of a multi-year effort with the Library of Congress to digitize and make accessible the U.S. Congressional Serial Set back to the first volume, which was published in 1817. 

“A big congratulations to our Library Services and Content Management team and our GovInfo team for their work making accessible thousands of historic documents,” said GPO Director Hugh Nathanial Halpern. “This effort to preserve our Nation’s history serves as one more way we are delivering on our vision of an America Informed. I look forward to the continued digitization of these treasured documents.”

Highlights from the newly added volumes include:

1. Annual reports of the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum 
2. Reports from May and June of 1874 relating to Susan B. Anthony’s criminal trial for illegally voting in elections in Rochester, New York. (At the time, women were barred from voting under New York state laws.) 
3. Hearings on the construction of the Panama Canal
4. Compilations of the official records of the Union and Confederate armies during the American Civil War 

The United States Congressional Serial Set, commonly referred to as the Serial Set, is a compilation of all numbered House and Senate reports and documents, including executive reports and treaty documents, issued for each session of Congress. GPO is uploading volumes of the official Serial Set in phases for free public access on GovInfo. Thus far it makes available nearly 7,000 volumes, with nearly 11,000 remaining. The entire effort is expected to take at least a decade to complete.

About GPO
GPO is the Federal Government’s resource for publishing trusted information for the Federal Government to the American people. The GPO is responsible for the production and distribution of information products and services for all three branches of the Federal Government, including U.S. passports for the Department of State as well as the official publications of Congress, the White House, and other Federal agencies in digital and print formats. GPO provides for permanent public access to Federal Government information at no charge throughwww.GovInfo.gov and partnerships with approximately 1,100 libraries nationwide participating in the Federal Depository Library Program. For more information, please visit www.gpo.gov.

Jane Rothstein was named president of the Jewish Genealogy Society of Cleveland, replacing Dr. Deborah A. Katz, who recently retired as president and first vice president for programming. Rothstein also serves as the second vice-president for membership and manages the genealogy’s library collection, which is housed at Congregation Mishkan Or’s Hartzmark Library.

During her terms as an officer, Katz initiated a technology review that resulted in a redesigned website and a robust back-end structure for managing membership, finance, communications and other important functions, according to a news release. She hosted a Zoom-based presentations by local and national experts on genealogical subjects. She organized the celebration of the 40th anniversary of the genealogy department’s founding, initiated a series of small in-person discussion groups and co-organized the genealogy society’s first community family history and genealogy open house, held in August, the release stated.

Rothstein grew up in University Heights and Beachwood, the daughter of Daniel and Mary Ann (Friedman) Rothstein, and graduated from Beachwood High School in 1987. She completed her Bachelor of Arts degree at Brandeis University in Waltham, Mass., Master of Arts degree in U.S. history at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland and Master of Library and Information Science degree in library science and archives management at Long Island University in Brooklyn, N.Y. She also pursued doctoral studies in American Jewish history at New York University.

She has taught Jewish studies at New York University, the Center for Jewish History, Texas Christian University and the National Havurah Committee’s Summer Institute and worked in the archives of the American Civil Liberties Union and the New York Public Library. She is the librarian and archivist at Congregation Mishkan Or, positions she previously held at The Temple-Tifereth Israel.

As president, Rothstein’s top priority is to help build and strengthen the genealogy society’s volunteer base: to work with members to identify volunteer opportunities that reflect their interests and skills, according to the release. The genealogy society will continue to offer world-class programming through Zoom and focus on partnerships with the broad Cleveland and Jewish genealogy-related communities, the release stated.

The genealogy society’s current membership is 223, about a third of whom are from outside Ohio, according to the release.

“Woman in Gold” with Randy Schoenberg, presented in partnership with Case Western Reserve University’s Siegal Lifelong Learning program will be held at 7 p.m. Nov. 6.

Schoenberg, an attorney, genealogist and filmmaker will discuss his work as the attorney for Maria Altmann in her quest to recover family treasures looted by the Nazis in World War II, including the so-called “Woman in Gold,” painter Gustav Klimt’s famous “Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer.”

To register for the free program, visit http://shorturl.at/f2Vpm.

For membership and general information, visit our website at: http://jgscleveland.org.

The National Archives of Ireland project has announced that as part of a €5 million project the Republic of Ireland's 1926 Census results will be available online, free of charge, from April 2026.

Personal information entered on individual census forms can be published 100 years after a census is taken. Since the personal information contained in the 1901 and 1911 census returns was published a decade ago, public interest in genealogy has mushroomed, and this continues with a growing interest in the detail contained in the 1926 census.

These returns contain the personal details of each individual alive at the time in Ireland. The 1926 census collected 21 data sets such as name, age, sex, marital status, religion, housing conditions and ability to speak Irish. It is planned to digitize and publish all data sets. This information will undoubtedly provide a fascinating snapshot of life in Ireland in 1926 and will be of great use to both the Irish public and diaspora worldwide.

On the night of 18 April 1926, the population of Ireland was 2,971,992 with 49% female and 51% male. At the previous census in 1911, the population was 3,139,688 demonstrating a reduction of 5.3% in the population in 15 years to 1926.  Dublin was the only county to record an increase in the population of almost 6% in the intercensal period, while all other counties recorded a loss.

In 1926, a total of 92.6% of the population was Catholic and 18.3% could speak Irish. Of those employed, 51% were in agricultural occupations, 4% were fishermen, 14% were in manufacturing and 7% were domestic servants. 

At present, the 1926 census is stored in 1,344 boxes, containing over 700,000 return sheets, each measuring approximately 630mm x 290mm (A3 is 297x430mm). The returns are laced together in 2,464 canvas portfolios each representing an enumeration area within each of the 26 counties.

The first full government census of Ireland was taken in 1821 with further censuses at ten-yearly intervals from 1831 through to 1911. A census was taken in June 1921, in England, Scotland and Wales but not on the island of Ireland because of the War of Independence. The first census of the population of the Irish Free State was taken on 18 June 1926.

The 1926 census returns, and indeed, all censuses less than 100 years old, remain under the legal control of the Central Statistics Office (CSO). To date censuses have been taken in 1926, 1936, 1946, 1951, 1956, 1961, 1966, 1971, 1979 (the census due in 1976 was canceled as an economic measure), 1981, 1986, 1991, 1996, 2002 and 2006. The returns for 1926 - 1946 and part of those for 1951 are held in the National Archives, but they remain under the control of the Central Statistics Office. The more recent returns are still held by the Central Statistics Office.

The 1926 census consists of 630,048 household returns with one census return sheet per household along with around 70,0000 enumerators’ sheets. Each return measures approximately 630mm x 290mm (A3 is 297x430mm). The returns are laced together in 2,464 canvas portfolios each representing an enumeration area within each of the 26 counties. The entire census is stored in 1,344 boxes.

The 1926 census collected 21 data sets. These include:

1) Name and surname

2) Relationship to head of household.

3) Age (in years and months).

4) Sex.

5) Marriage or orphanhood.

6) Birthplace (including name of parish).

7) Irish language.

8) Religion.

9) Occupation and employment: personal occupation.

10) Occupation and employment: employment/name of employer.

11) Information regarding present marriage required from married women: number of completed years and months of present marriage, and number of children born alive to present marriage.

12) Information regarding present and previous marriages required from married men, widowers and widows: the number of living sons, daughters, step-sons and step-daughters under 16 years of age, whether residing as members of this household or elsewhere.

13) The total area in statute acres of all agricultural holdings (if any) situated in the Irish Free State of which persons usually resident in this household are the rated occupiers.

For more details on the 1926 Census visit: CSO.ie.

A mom faces a murder charge 30 years after she left her newborn in a grocery bag along the side of a California road, police said.

On Thursday, the Monterey County Sheriff’s Office announced the arrest of Pamela Ferreyra. She was charged with murder and is being held in a California jail on $1 million bond.

The newborn was found along the side of Garin Road in 1994 by a man collecting aluminum cans, according to KSBW. The newborn - who became known as Baby Garin - was wrapped in a grocery bag.

"He opened up that paper bag and discovered something that nobody ever wants to find," the sheriff’s spokesman Andy Rosas said, according to KSBW. "When the person looked inside, they discovered the deceased baby boy’s body."

Investigators said Baby Garin was born alive but died later. An autopsy could not determine the exact cause of death. Police believe the child died between November 1, 1994, and December 3, 1994.

The case was unsolved for decades but was reopened in 2023. Advancements in DNA technology allowed investigators to use genetic material from the case to try and develop leads.

From there, a company was able to offer a lead on the baby’s family, according to USAToday.  That led to Ferreyra’s arrest being ordered last week.

Monterey County Assistant District Attorney Matt L’Heureux told media outlets that they believe Ferreyra has other children.

He also said he couldn’t speculate on what was going through Ferreyra’s mind for the last 30 years.

"We run into a variety of different reactions. Some of them seem to think that they have gotten away with it and are very surprised. Some of them have been waiting for that knock on the door for decades," L’Heureux said. "I couldn’t tell you which situation this falls under but we’re happy this day has come."

Beginning U.S. genealogists soon learn that the 1890 census records were destroyed in a fire in the basement of the Commerce Building on January 10, 1921. Many people who would like to see these records just shrug their shoulders and move on.

A short search on the Web, however, soon reveals that not all of the records were destroyed. In fact, census fragments for 1890 in Alabama, Georgia, Illinois, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, South Dakota, Texas, and the District of Columbia survived and are available now.

The morning after the fire 1921 fire, Census Director Sam Rogers reported the extensive damage to the 1890 schedules, estimating that only 25 percent of the records were destroyed, with 50 percent of the remainder damaged by water, smoke, and fire. Salvage of the water-soaked and charred documents might be possible, reported the bureau, but saving even a small part would take a month, and it would take two to three years to copy and save all the records damaged in the fire. The preliminary assessment of Census Bureau Clerk T. J. Fitzgerald was far more sobering. Fitzgerald told reporters that the priceless 1890 records were "certain to be absolutely ruined. There is no method of restoring the legibility of a water-soaked volume."

Had the fire occurred in the year 2024, many of the volumes could have been saved. Today, water-soaked documents can be freeze dried, removing the water without creating additional damage to the pages. Unfortunately, such technology was not available in 1921.

Speculation and rumors about the cause of the blaze varied widely. Many suspected that a carelessly discarded cigarette or a lighted match was the cause. Employees were questioned about their smoking habits. Others believed the fire started among shavings in the carpenter shop or resulted from spontaneous combustion. At least one woman from Ohio felt certain the fire was part of a conspiracy to defraud her family of their rightful estate by destroying every vestige of evidence proving heirship! However, the true cause of the fire was never proven. 

At the end of January 1921, the records damaged in the fire were moved for temporary storage. Over the next few months, rumors spread that salvage attempts would not be made and that Census Director Sam Rogers had recommended that Congress authorize destruction of the 1890 census. Prominent historians, attorneys, and genealogical organizations wrote in protest to Secretary of Commerce Herbert Hoover, the Librarian of Congress, and other government officials. The National Genealogical Society and the Daughters of the American Revolution formally petitioned Hoover and Congress, and the editor of the NGS Quarterly warned that a nationwide movement would begin among state societies and the press if Congress seriously considered destruction. The National Archives quickly denied that the records would be destroyed.

By May of 1921, the records were still piled in a large warehouse without proper storage. The records were quickly deteriorating as summer heat approached in the non-air conditioned warehouse. Census Director William Steuart ordered that the damaged records be transferred back to the census building, to be bound where possible, but at least put in some order for reference.

The water-soaked records remained at the census building for nearly eleven years, apparently not well cared for. In December 1932, in accordance with federal records procedures at the time, the Chief Clerk of the Bureau of Census sent the Librarian of Congress a list of papers no longer necessary for current business and scheduled for destruction. He asked the Librarian to report back to him any documents that should be retained for their historical interest. Item 22 on the list for Bureau of the Census read "Schedules, Population . . . 1890, Original." 

The Librarian identified no records as permanent; the list was sent forward, and Congress authorized destruction of the remaining 1890 census records on February 21, 1933. Despite assurance by census officials in 1921 that the damaged records would not be destroyed, government bureaucrats did exactly that in the 1930s. Even worse, damaged and undamaged pages alike were destroyed. The entire process was not well publicized, with only minor notes buried inside governmental reports. The date of the actual destruction of the 1890 census records was never recorded although it probably was in 1935.

It seems sad that Washington bureaucrats quietly destroyed these valuable records without public review and scrutiny. However, the story does not end there. The bureaucrats overlooked some records! In 1953 National Archives found an additional set of 1890 census record fragments. These sets of extant fragments are from Alabama, Georgia, Illinois, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, South Dakota, Texas, and the District of Columbia. These surviving fragments were preserved and microfilmed. They are still available today, despite the "common knowledge" that the 1890 U.S. Census was destroyed in a fire. 

Before you disregard this census, you should always verify that the schedules you seek did not survive. If you are looking for ancestors in 1890 in Alabama, Georgia, Illinois, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, South Dakota, Texas, or the District of Columbia, you might have a pleasant surprise. Be aware that the surviving records are only a tiny fraction of the total records, even for those states. For the General Population Census Schedules, more than 6,160 persons are included in the surviving fragments. 

Admittedly, these are very small fragments of the original records. Small fragments also have been preserved of the following 1890 records:

Schedules of Union Civil War Veterans or their widows

Oklahoma territorial schedules

List of selected Delaware African-Americans,

Statistics of Lutheran congregations

Statistical information for the entire United States

You won't know if your ancestors' records are still available until you check. 

You can view National Archives Microfilm Publication M407 (3 rolls) and a corresponding index, National Archives Microfilm Publication M496 (2 rolls). Both microfilm series can be viewed at the National Archives, at the regional archives, at the thousands of LDS Family History Centers around the world, and at several other repositories.

For more information, look at the National Archives' web site at https://www.archives.gov/research/census/microfilm-catalog/1790-1890/part-08.

The following is a press release issued by the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration:

Last week Archivist of the United States Dr. Colleen Shogan announced a new Strategic Framework for the National Archives. The framework, a template that will guide the development of a full Strategic Plan, charts a course for the agency that emphasizes building digital capacity, scalability, and responsibly embracing technological innovation.

Enlarge

The Lenexa, KS, Federal Records Center is one of more than 30 NARA locations across that country that house millions of cubic feet of records. (National Archives photo by Darryl Herring)

“Our mission is both straightforward and complex: We preserve, protect, and share the historical records of the United States to promote public inquiry and strengthen democratic participation,” said Shogan. “The goals outlined in this framework will guide our efforts as we successfully navigate the complexities of the rapidly evolving digital landscape and strive to engage all Americans in meaningful ways.” 

One of the agency’s key objectives outlined in the framework is to incorporate artificial intelligence (AI) into archival recordkeeping and information-sharing practices to make it easier for everyone to use the records held by the National Archives. As a nonpartisan institution dedicated to making the nation's history accessible, the National Archives does not change the records within its holdings or interpret them. Making technology tools including AI and machine learning available to researchers and the public can enable more Americans to have greater success navigating the agency’s vast holdings.

NARA's early AI projects have showcased the technology's strengths by improving response times for records requests and making information from holdings more easily understood. One of the first uses of AI at NARA, in 2022, helped identify names in the 1950 Census before the records were released. Census records are a rich resource for genealogists—but it can be difficult and time-consuming to find names. These names were handwritten by census takers and can be difficult to read. NARA was able to use AI to identify names and make the records searchable within the National Archives Catalog, making it easier for the public to search and find family members in the census on the day that it was released.

While working to eliminate a backlog of National Personnel Records Center records requests from veterans and their families that had built up early in the pandemic, NARA also conducted a promising proof of concept for the use of AI-driven Robotic Process Automation (RPA), which may help the agency more efficiently manage routine operations in the future. In both projects, AI directly supported the work of archivists and made smaller pieces from large quantities of information accessible to the public more quickly.

Additional projects are exploring how AI can improve the efficiency of conducting Freedom of Information Act and other document reviews, capture metadata in microfilm digitization, safeguard personally identifiable information (PII), and perform natural-language search queries in digitized records. A pilot project is in development to test the capacity of AI to perform user-directed search queries. Known as ArchieAI, the pilot is slated to be opened to the public for testing and feedback in December 2024.

Every AI project at the National Archives depends on the expertise of multidisciplinary teams of  employees to establish use cases, document testing, set parameters, and validate results. The agency is conducting these projects within the context of a larger U.S federal framework for trustworthy use of AI, including guidance outlined in the Executive Order on the Safe, Secure, and Trustworthy Development and Use of AI and an AI risk management framework from the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). Project results will be used to further develop AI governance at the National Archives, which will weigh innovation, risk management, and resources. 

AI is also being tested as an administrative business tool to help NARA employees work more efficiently in day-to-day tasks. Employees in the pilot project can access Google Gemini AI capabilities within the Google applications used at NARA for help summarizing documents, writing emails, and creating presentations and data visualization. The Gemini pilot greets employees with a message that reminds pilot users that no data will be shared outside of the National Archives environment and will not be used to train Google’s AI model.

National Archives Chief Information Officer Sheena Burrell stated, "AI technology has the potential to revolutionize the way we work at NARA. By automating routine tasks and providing us with new tools to analyze and understand our data, AI can help us to be more efficient, effective, and responsive to the needs of our customers."

NARA’s inventory of AI use cases to date are listed on its website.