What Makes A Good Tag?

Have you ever thought about what makes a good tag? Since adding tags enhances the National Archives Catalog search capabilities, we find that the best tags are the ones that add new information to a record that isn’t already available. If you can find the word in the record’s title or scope and content note, add it as a tag - but don’t stop there! You can further improve access to that record if you identify an object, person or action in a record that is not already in the description.

Photographs and Graphic Materials

In order to tag these records, take a good look at the image. What do you see? What’s happening in the image? Is there an overarching theme or feeling? Do you see any people? What kinds of people? What are they doing? What objects do you see?

Let’s take a look at a photograph that can be enhanced with descriptive tags. In this first example,the title of this photograph is long and detailed:  Adults Looking Over Bargain Merchandise Placed in the Street on the Sidewalks by Merchants in New Ulm, Minnesota, during their Annual Street Crazy Days Sale, the Town is a County Seat Trading Center of 13,000 in a Farming Area of South Central Minnesota, It was Founded in 1854 by a German Immigrant Land Company that encouraged its Kinsmen to Emigrate from Europe, the bulk of the Business District is on Minnesota Street which has been Revitalized with Community Effort, 7/1974

In this next example, the title of this photograph is: Deck of Gun Boat, probably "Mendota"  

Now let’s look at a poster with the title,  "Remember Your First Thrill of American Liberty. Your Duty- Buy United States Government Bonds. 2nd Liberty Loan of 1917."  

Textual Records

We recommend that the focus for textual records is transcription. After the pages have been transcribed, however, you may also add tags to further identify the subject of the record. What is most helpful is tagging the names of key people, topics, events, or locations in the record, especially those not listed in the title or scope and content note of the record’s description.

Let’s look at this two page letter titled, Letter to President Lyndon B. Johnson from Jackie Robinson   

Where should you add these tags?

Tags can be added to individual pages or images.