FY2004 Information Quality Requests
1. Date Received: October 17, 2003
Request Summary
The date on the photo with the Archival Research Catalog (ARC) Identifier 535795,
which shows the atomic bombing of Nagasaki, is incorrect. It should be August
9, 1945.
Resolution Summary
The photograph description was corrected.
2. Date Received: December 2, 2003
Request Summary
The Information Security Oversight Office's Interim Marking Guide dated 9/22/03
shows the marking for the Subject or Title incorrectly. You have (U) Funding
Problems and it should be Funding Problems (U).
Resolution Summary
An explanation was provided that portion markings, including those for a Subject
or Title, consist of the letter (U) for unclassified, (C) for Confidential,
(S) for Secret, and (TS) for Top Secret. These abbreviations, in parentheses,
are placed before or after the portion to which they apply.
Certain organizations instruct their employees to place portion markings after and other instruct their employees to mark before the Subject or Title line. Either way is correct, as long as you are following guidance that has been given to you by your organization.
3. Date Received: February 4, 2004
Request Summary
At this link http://www.archives.gov/exhibit-hall/featured_documents/ dc_emancipation_act/index.html,
the supplemental DC Emancipation Act is stated as 1861 instead of 1862.
Resolution Summary
The web staff corrected the date on the link in question.
4. Date Received: February 6, 2004
Request Summary
The following statement from your site is incorrect.
From the article "Teaching With Documents Lesson Plan: The Fight for Equal Rights: Black Soldiers in the Civil War"
Confederate General Nathan B. Forrest shot to death black Union soldiers captured at Fort Pillow, TN, engagement of 1864.
General Forrest did not shoot anybody - he stopped the killing when he arrived at the Fort after the attack. ...Investigation after the war found no charges to bring against General Forrest. This battle was investigated by General Sherman and Forrest was not blamed. ...General Forrest did not shoot and did not order the shooting of any blacks.
Resolution Summary
You are correct in that Forrest did not personally shoot anyone during
the massacre. However, when he arrived on the scene, he did nothing to stop
it. We added the following correction to our web site: "In perhaps the most heinous known example of abuse, Confederate soldiers shot to death black Union soldiers captured at the Fort Pillow, TN, engagement of 1864. Confederate General Nathan B. Forrest witnessed the massacre and did nothing to stop it."
5. Date Received: April 5, 2004
Request Summary
One of the sections of your web site refers to Services Available for the Public
and Government Agencies but no information is provided about where to find it
or how to order it.
Resolution Summary
The links to both the Public Services page and page for Federal Agencies have
been updated.
6. Date Received: June 15, 2004
Request Summary
I'm sure you probably know this already, but there is a picture of
Thomas Paine (#532929), which is mislabeled as Samuel Adams. This drawing/engraving
is part of the George Washington Bicentennial Commission, 1931-1932; War and
Conflict Number 64.
Resolution Summary
The error was corrected.
7. Date Received: July 1, 2004
Request Summary
Your section: "Expansion of Rights & Liberties - The Rights
Of Suffrage" may have a mistake. It states the 15th Amendment as being
1865 when according to your other info on amendments (& sounds right) that
the 15th was ratified in Feb. 3, 1870.
Resolution Summary
Thank you for your bringing this to our attention. The corrections to "The
Expansion of Rights & Liberties - The Rights of Suffrage" page of our
site have been made.
8. Date Received: July 1, 2004
Request Summary
I am contacting you in regards to a spelling mistake on the name of
Peter Paul Rubens. If you follow the link http://www.archives.gov/publications
/prologue/summer_2002_nazi_looted_art_2.html you'll encounter the following
text with the family name of Rubens misspelled:
Pfc. Tony Baea, U.S. First Army, looks at a priceless Reubens painting, one of many valuable works found in an underground cave in Siegen, Germany. (111-SC-204155)
Peter Paul Rubens family name cannot be spelled REUBENS.
Resolution Summary
The error was corrected.
9. Date Received: July 7, 2004
Request Summary
The attribution of one of your photos would seem to be incorrect. I
refer to ARC Identifier: 530990 Title: "Dodge City [Kans.] Peace Commissioners.
L to R: Chas. Bassett, W. H. Harris, Wyatt Earp, Luke Short, L. McLean, Bat
Masterson, Neal Brown." By Camillus S. Fly, ca. 1890 . According to a biography
of Earp by Casey Tefertiller, the photo was taken in the Conkling Studio at
Dodge City in June 1883 and first appeared in the National Police Gazette, 21
July, 1883. This makes sense as the events the photo commemorates occurred in
1883, and Fly was active in Tombstone, Arizona, not Dodge.
Resolution Summary
The information included with the photographs, are captions which were written by the photographers themselves, or by the Government Agency which created the records. Archival records are not changed by NARA regardless of the accuracy of the content of the information.
10. Date Received: July 28, 2004
Request Summary
ARC Identifier: 77104 Shot list refers to sinking of battleship USS
Nevada at Okinawa 1945. Must be another ship, because the Nevada was sunk in
target practice off Hawaii in 1948.
Resolution Summary
The ARC descriptions of the Department of the Navy moving image materials
were accessioned with the moving image materials. As such, these descriptions
of Navy moving image materials are records of the agency. We do not make changes
to records deposited by the agency.
11. Date Received: August 1, 2004
Request Summary
This information on your web site and cloned on other sites as well
cannot be accurate, can it?
This is supposed to be a list of electoral votes by state.
Total: 538; Majority Needed to Elect: 270
ALABAMA - 9
MONTANA - 3
ALASKA - 3 NEBRASKA - 5
ARIZONA - 10 NEVADA - 5
ARKANSAS - 6 NEW HAMPSHIRE - 4
CALIFORNIA - 55 NEW JERSEY - 15
COLORADO - 9 NEW MEXICO - 5
CONNECTICUT - 7 NEW YORK - 31
DELAWARE - 3 NORTH CAROLINA - 15
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA - 3 NORTH DAKOTA - 3
FLORIDA - 27 OHIO - 20
GEORGIA - 15 OKLAHOMA - 7
HAWAII - 4 OREGON - 7
IDAHO - 4 PENNSYLVANIA - 21
ILLINOIS - 21 RHODE ISLAND - 4
INDIANA - 11 SOUTH CAROLINA - 8
IOWA - 7 SOUTH DAKOTA - 3
KANSAS - 6 TENNESSEE - 11
KENTUCKY - 8 TEXAS - 34
LOUISIANA - 9 UTAH - 5
MAINE - 4 VERMONT - 3
MARYLAND - 10 VIRGINIA - 13
MASSACHUSETTS - 12 WASHINGTON - 11
MICHIGAN - 17 WEST VIRGINIA - 5
MINNESOTA - 10 WISCONSIN - 10
MISSISSIPPI - 6 WYOMING - 3
MISSOURI - 11
Resolution Summary
The number of electoral votes allotted to each State corresponds to the number
of Representatives and Senators that each State sends to Congress. The distribution
of electoral votes among the States can vary every 10 years depending on the
results of the United States Census. Thus, every state has at least 3 electoral
votes, because the Constitution grants each State two Senators and at least
one Representative. In addition to the 535 electoral votes divided among the
States, the District of Columbia has three electoral votes because the 23rd
Amendment granted it the same number of votes as the least populated State.
If a State gains or loses a Congressional district, it will also gain or lose
an electoral vote. As a result of the Census conducted in 2000, the number of
electoral votes allotted to certain States changed for the 2004 election.
12. Date Received: September 1, 2004
Request Summary
Request for correction to NARA web site: Regarding the information
about Eli Whitney: Whitney did not actually invent the cotton gin. The inventing
was done by his employer, Catherine Greene. Unfortunately, women were not allowed
to apply for patents, so she entrusted the fabrication of the machine to Whitney.
If you could add that to the current information it would be greatly appreciated.
Resolution Summary
While there has been speculation about whether or not the cotton gin, which
Whitney received a patent for on March 14, 1794, was solely his invention, until
substantive evidence to the contrary is uncovered, he shall continue to be credited
as the original inventor and patent holder.
Please note that in two different places in our article on Eli Whitney (http://www.archives.gov/digital_classroom
/lessons/cotton_gin_patent/
cotton_gin_patent.html) Catherine Greene is acknowledged as Whitney's employer
and moral and financial backer. Catherine Greene did not receive credit, nor
a patent, for inventing the cotton gin.