Alaska Digitization Project

Iditarod National Historic Trail

In order to make NARA’s holdings from the former Alaska Region more broadly available to the public, we are digitizing the most in-demand records.

The National Archives began this process by requesting input from stakeholders, including the public, on which records should be prioritized for digitization. In 2014, NARA combined this feedback with historical reference activity, access restrictions that prevent public release (including the existence of Personally Identifiable Information), and preservation concerns to create the first digitization priority list.

Beginning in 2017, the National Archives focused the list to the most popular records based on what records had been requested in 2015 and 2016. During this period, NARA also received specific input from the Alaska Department of Transportation, the Alaska Department of Natural Resources, and the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Newly identified access restrictions also prevent NARA from digitizing some of the records from the original list. 

Digitization Process and Updates

Digitizing the records from the former Alaska region is a top priority of the National Archives. In order to maximize available resources in terms of staff and equipment, the records are being temporarily moved to the National Archives at College Park. Approximately 3,600 cubic feet of records will move in FY 2021 in three shipments. 

The list of records in the first shipment, which arrived at the National Archives at College Park on May 27, 2021, can be found here. The list of records in the second shipment can be found here. For this second shipment, the estimated closure date at the National Archives at Seattle is June 14, 2021, and the estimated arrival date at the National Archives at College Park is June 24, 2021. Please keep in mind that these dates are estimates. If there is a significant change to this schedule we will share it here.

During the time the records are located in College Park, reference service may be interrupted. Due to COVID-19, no in-person research is currently available. However, every effort will be made to fulfill reference requests. Limited reference services for affected records will resume October 1, 2021, except for emergency requests (e.g., requests involving rights and interests, looming court dates, or significant congressional matters), which will be addressed as they are received. The records will be returned to the National Archives at Seattle for long-term storage and in-person access after digitization.

You may send reference inquiries regarding the affected records by email to seattle.archives@nara.gov or by postal mail to 6125 Sand Point Way NE, Seattle, Washington 98115-7999.  

Progress on the project can be tracked below, and answers to Frequently Asked Questions are available here.

As Alaska records are digitized and made available via the National Archives Catalog, we will update the list below with links to the scanned images. Where digitization is listed as upcoming, links go to the corresponding Catalog series description which provides background information on the records in that series. All series from the former Alaska Region can be viewed in the National Archives Catalog regardless of their digitization status.

In addition to NARA digitization, our partners at FamilySearch have also digitized over four hundred thousand pages from Alaska and made these available via their website.

 See the list of Alaska records digitized by FamilySearch

Recently Digitized 

Records of the Bureau of Land Management, 1685 – 2006 (RG 049)

• Serial Register Books, 1895 – 1983 

Bureau of Indian Affairs (RG 075)

• Alaska Resupply Program Logbooks [North Star & Boxer], 1925-1960 

• Reindeer Service: Correspondence Relating to Reindeer Herds in Alaska, 1911-1960 

National Park Service (RG 079)

• Recreation Studies, 1974-1981 

Federal Highway Administration (RG 406)

• Project Case Files [Field Notebooks], 1919-1969 

Enhanced Discovery

NARA has added additional metadata to some high-interest records that cannot be systematically digitized. This additional metadata supports improved discovery of the material in the National Archives Catalog. A limited number of digital images  from these records may be added over time.   

Bureau of Indian Affairs (RG 075)

• Tlingit-Haida Tribal Enrollments, 1890-1976 (searchable by name)

Records of the Bureau of Public Roads, 1892 - 1972 (RG 030)

• Drawings, 1922 - 1958 (searchable by location)

Upcoming

Office of the Secretary of the Interior (RG 048)

• Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA) Case Files, 1975-1978 

Bureau of Land Management (RG 049)

• Weather Modification Project Files, 1969-1973

Bureau of Indian Affairs (RG 075)

• Village Census Rolls, 1946 - 1971

• Reindeer Service: Decimal Correspondence, 1901-1974

• Reindeer Service: Historical Files of the General Superintendent of the Alaska Reindeer Service, 1893-1922

Naval Districts & Shore Establishments (RG 181)

• Alaska Sea Frontier Central Subject Files, 1945

• Dutch Harbor Central Subject Files, 1946-1947 [includes information about the 1942 Japanese attack on Dutch Harbor]

Donated material from the Anchorage Museum that was transferred to the National Archives in 2010

• Photographs Relating to Federal Aviation Facilities [Federal Aviation Administration], 1946 – 1972 

Digitized in 2020

Records of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, 1793 - 1999 (RG 075)

• Correspondence Relating to Reindeer Herds in Alaska, 1911 - 1960

Digitized in 2019

National Park Service (RG 079)

• Recreation Studies, 1974-1981 

Digitized in 2018

Army Air Forces (RG 018)

• Aerial Photographs of Attu Island, 9/18/1942 - 9/28/1942

U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (RG 022)

• Correspondence Relating to the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, 1957 - 1962 

• Endangered Species Recovery Plans, 1982-2008 

U.S. Coast Guard (RG 026)

• Grays Harbor Lighthouse Construction Logbook, 5/21/1897 - 12/4/1897 

• Nome Life-Saving Station Logbooks, 1902-1941

Weather Bureau (RG 027)

• Meteorological Observation Reports, 1881-1924 

Bureau of Public Roads (RG 030)

• Alaska Road Commission Directives Files, 1929 - 1957 

Bureau of Indian Affairs (RG 075)

• Alaska Village Census Rolls, 1966 – 1968 

• Reindeer Service: Administrative Correspondence, 1934 - 1953 

• Reindeer Service: Administrative Correspondence Relating to the Sale of Reindeer and Reindeer Products, 1940 

• Reindeer Service: Annual Reports of Reindeer Herds, 1908 - 1932

• Reindeer Service: Correspondence of Lawrence J. Palmer, 1920 - 194 

• Reindeer Service: Correspondence Relating to Declarations of Ownership of Reindeer in Alaska, 1937 - 1941 

• Reindeer Service: Correspondence Relating to Reindeer Meat, 1937 - 1943 

• Reindeer Service: Correspondence Relating to Sales, 1934 - 1953 

• Reindeer Service: Financial Ledgers, 1915 – 1925 

• Reindeer Service: Historical Files, 1929 – 1948 

• Reindeer Service: Monthly Herd Reports, 1937 – 1968 

• School Newspapers, 1960 – 1970 

Forest Service (RG 095)

• Region 10 Correspondence Relating to Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) Activities, ca. 1937 - ca. 1942 

Naval Districts & Shore Establishments (RG 181)

• Attu Station Logbooks, 1943 - 1945  

Federal Highway Administration (RG 406)

• Project Case Files [Boxes 186 – 232], 1919 – 1969

Digitized in 2017

U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (RG 022)

• Endangered Species Delisting Files, 1975 - 2000 

Bureau of Indian Affairs (RG 075)

• Village Census Rolls, 1935-1972) [Due to PII concerns, material from this series will be released 75 years from the date of the record.]

Digitized in 2015 

U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (RG 022)

• Pribilof Islands Glass Plate Negatives, 1913-1921 

U.S. Coast Guard (RG 026)

• Sketchbooks of John C. Cantwell, 1886 - 1893  

Army Corps of Engineers (RG 077)

• 1964 Alaska Earthquake Photographs, 1964-1965 

Department of the Treasury (RG 056)

• Pribilof Islands Photographs & Charts of Treasury Agent Abial P. Loud, 1885-1889