The Digital Artifact Collection at Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum

Hello, I'm William Harris, director of the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Librarian Museum. Today I want to talk a bit about how we make access happen. Since the Roosevelt Library opened to the public in 1941, visitors have been able to view artifacts from the life and times of the Roosevelt's on display in our permanent exhibit. For many years this was the only way the public could access our artifact collections. With over 34,000 artifacts safely stored behind the scenes, only a very small percentage ever makes its way onto display in our exhibits. In 2013, we opened more of our collections to public view in our unique behind-the-scenes visible storage area. But even here you can only see just a small portion of the artifact collection. All of that changed in May 2020 when we launched an exciting National Archives pilot program, the Digital Artifact Collection. It's an online resource where you can find detailed information and photographs of thousands of items in the library's artifact collection. This website makes an ever-growing selection of our artifact collection available online to anyone, anywhere. Hello, I'm Catherine Sardino, museum technician at the FDR Library. I'm going to be giving you a brief overview of the Artifact Collection website. To begin, you can find the Digital Artifact Collection on the library's website under Digital Collections. From here, users can explore thousands of artifact records with more items being added each month. These artifacts include original artwork, ceremonial items, political and personal memorabilia, and the original furnishings from FDR's private office here at the library. Records provide detailed information including photographs, physical descriptions, historical background information, and links to artists, manufacturers, and historic figures associated with each artifact. Records are also linked to information about past and present FDR Library exhibits and to their associated National Archives catalog series so that visitors can continue their research. The site enables general searches among the artifact catalog records as well as the ability to browse special curated groups of artifacts such as the New Deal artwork and FDR's ship model collection. This website resource is one part of the digitization program of the National Archives and the FDR Library and Museum. It enables us to make access happen. I hope you enjoyed this look at the FDR Library's Digital Artifact Collection. To view this online resource, please go to fdr.artifacts.archives.gov.