Native American Photographs Tagging Mission


Citizen Archivists, we have a new mission for you! More than 18,000 photographs from the Records of the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) are now available in the National Archives Catalog. We are looking for Citizen Archivists to add specific topical subject tags to each photograph in the Record Group.

Black and white photo of woman and child by teepee
Black and white photo of two men working on stone house construction

L: Women and child by teepee, ca. 1936. National Archives Identifier 285205
R: Stone House during Construction / Men Working. National Archives Identifier 7867978

Check out the mission page for the list of topical subject tags. Please add one or more of these topical subject tags to each photograph in the mission. Tagging Native American records with these topical subjects will make them more searchable in the Catalog, and will help organize them by subject for use in future projects and resource guides.

For this project, all tags should be added to the left side of the image and description, as shown in this example:

Screenshot of photo from Catalog showing a group of men in a class photo. To the left of the image shows tags added to description
Moscow, Idaho School of Welding class photo, ca. 1940. National Archives Identifier 285195

In addition to adding at least one of the tags in the list, you are welcome to add as many other descriptive tags as you would like. For this project, you can even add a topical subject tag if the term is already found in the Title or Scope and Content Note. Please see our What Makes A Good Tag how-to guide to learn more about tagging.

Black and white photograph of men constructing a stone house
Black and white photo of a family standing in front of a stone house.
L: Camp Building- Mt. Goseping L.O. National Archives Identifier 118973791
R: M&M Bluecloud, Daughter and Granddaughter by Home. National Archives Identifier 7867887

Check out the mission page and get started tagging! Thank you for helping make these rich records more accessible.

New to the citizen archivist program? Learn how to register and get started.

Black and white photograph of a young girl sitting in the doorway of a reed house
Black and white photograph of a woman feeding goats

L: Indian girl in native dress sitting in doorway of reed summer house, ca. 1935. National Archives Identifier 285204
R: Women feeding goats, ca. 1940. National Archives Identifier 285246

New in the Catalog

Lantern Slides of Navy Vessels and the Fifth Marine Regiment in France during World War I, ca. 1917 - ca. 1963. National Archives Identifier 559374

This series consists of lantern slides taken during World War I. Some of the images document the activities of the Fifth Marine Regiment serving under General Charles A. Doyen, United States Marine Corps, during June of 1917.

Slide showing two men sitting atop a stone wall talking
Slide showing car full of U.S. Marines driving down a road while a group of people watch and wave

L: Lantern Slide of Explaining Baseball to a British Sailor. National Archives Identifier 178140484
R: Lantern Slide of Greeting U.S. Marines in France. National Archives Identifier 178140520

In addition, this series includes views of various naval vessels from World War I. Some of the images are artist renderings of ships from that era. Among the types of ships pictured are destroyers, battleships, and submarines.

History Hub
Also be sure to explore the American Indian Records community here on History Hub!  Bring your questions about Native American history and records, or help answer other users' questions!

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