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NEWS RELEASE - JUNE 8, 1994

NATIONAL ARCHIVES PUTS GOPHER SERVER ON INTERNET

WASHINGTON D.C.     The National Archives has made available an
Internet Gopher server that provides key information relating to
the National Archives, including descriptions of facilities
nationwide; information on agency holdings; publications and
general information leaflets; and some Federal records
regulations.  The Gopher is part of a pilot project to make
information about the agency and its holdings available
electronically.

The goal of the pilot project is to provide a unified
presentation and method of access to National Archives
information for Internet users.  The Gopher menu structure, which
will be expanded as new items become available, is designed to
reflect the breadth of the National Archives organization.  The
Gopher is to serve government agency personnel, educators,
librarians, historians, genealogists, researchers, job-seekers,
and members of the public.  Future plans call for a bulletin
board presentation for dial-in access to the Gopher menu.

The Gopher is an excellent introduction to the holding of the
National Archives for first-time users.  Researchers can access
information on some of the most widely-used collections,
including the Nixon Presidential Materials, Ansel Adams
photographs from the Still Picture Branch, captured German sound
recordings, electronic records, and an index of selected census
records.  Research questions can be directed by e-mail to 
inquire@nara.gov.

Text-based information can be accessed with a Gopher client by
connecting to the address gopher.nara.gov.  This information,
together with future additions of hypertext and multimedia
documents, can also be found on the WorldWideWeb (WWW), using a
client such as Mosaic, at http://www.nara.gov.

The National Archives is using the GN server for the Gopher and
HTTP protocols, running on an i486 microcomputer.  The freeware
for the UNIX operating system was written by John Franks at
Northwestern University.  The system administrator is Jon Radel
of Synetics Inc.

For additional PRESS information call the National Archives
Public Affairs staff at (202) 501-5525.  For more technical
information, please e-mail postmaster@nara.gov.