WELCOME TO A.R.C.H.I.V.E.S.
                                 
               Archival Records and Collections of 
          Historical Information Via Electronic Sources
                                 
                                 
 
A.R.C.H.I.V.E.S. is an Information System that combines vast
collections of information available about the National Archives
and Records Administration (NARA) with easy access to diverse
electronic resources over the Internet.  Its goal is to serve the
staff of NARA, as well as other Government agencies and
constituents throughout the world.  It is available on the
Internet and uses Gopher software.  During the preliminary stages
of development, the posting of information on A.R.C.H.I.V.E.S.
will be coordinated by the "A.R.C.H.I.V.E.S. Pilot Team" in
cooperation with units throughout the Archives.  The Information
Resources Management (IRM) Steering Committee has sponsored this
effort in conjunction with recommendations coming from the
Internet Access Committee and the Pilot Team.  Once the initial
design of A.R.C.H.I.V.E.S. is complete, the responsibility for
overseeing the system will move from the "Pilot Team" to a more
permanent organization.  Paralleling that transition will be an
effort to transfer responsibility for publishing and maintaining
specific menu items on the system to "information owners"
throughout the Archives.

Since the information offered by the system will be viewed by
both staff members and users outside of the Archives from
workstations with varying ranges of characteristics and
capabilities, the format of documents on A.R.C.H.I.V.E.S. will,
for the most part, adhere to the "lowest common denominator" --
plain ASCII text.  In some cases files will be listed that are
not in ASCII format (i.e., graphic images from the Archives's
exhibits and audiovisual collections).

If you have suggestions regarding the addition of data to
A.R.C.H.I.V.E.S.,would like to make comments on any aspect of the
system, or report any technical problems please contact the NARA
A.R.C.H.I.V.E.S. Pilot Team at the Internet address: 

                     postmaster@nara.gov

If you have general reference or research questions, send an
Internet mail message to:

                    inquire@nara.gov

Your message will be routed to the unit within NARA that handles
your question.  At this time not all NARA units have access to
Internet EMAIL.  So that we may answer your question as quickly
as possible, please include the following information in the BODY

of your message:

               First and last name
               Telephone Number, including area code 
               FAX number, including area code
               Mailing address
               Internet EMAIL address


If you know that you want to correspond with the Center for
Electronic Records, send an Internet EMAIL message to:

                    cer@nara.gov

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Thank you for your interest.

*** Last update 4/28/94 (rdb) ***