When I was a kid, watching the end of Raiders of the Lost Ark, as the Ark is taken to an enormous warehouse and stored among piles of boxes of who knows what, I wanted to shout (with every other kid in the theater), “No, that’s really important!” Then I remember thinking, “If the ark is in that box, what’s in all the others?”

Last week when I visited the National Archives in Washington DC and Archives II in College Park, Maryland, that Raiders of the Lost Ark feeling came back.

As we walked through the stacks, our guides would stop, take down a box and pull out a document–a telegraph message from Abraham Lincoln–then put that back on the shelf and move on to another box, another document–George A. Custer’s acceptance letter from West Point–put that back, then go to another part of the building and take down the next box, the next document.

Of course I mention the big-name examples, but we also looked at service records from average soldiers, correspondence from various agencies, photographs, court records–you name it. Pretty soon I came to feel like I was in that warehouse from the Indiana Jones movie and each document held a story that someone really needed to get out of that box.

The other great thing about the visit was the people who work at the National Archives. It was like being back in that theater with all those other kids who wanted to shout, “Don’t just put that in there!” They know the collections so well and as far as I could tell, they genuinely love what they do. I was impressed at the lengths they go to maintain these records and help people find what they are looking for.

Anyway, it was a great trip. I’m excited about our partnership with the National Archives and I can’t wait to get some of those documents out of their boxes and onto the internet where their stories can be told.

In addition to our premium collections, we plan on adding more free content for people to sample in the coming months.

To make viewing free stuff easier, you now do not need to register to view free documents such as these:

American Milestone Collection

Pennsylvania Archives

You still need to register if you want to annotate, save or print images.

Speaking of printing, we know it’s one of the first things people do when they find an interesting document. So, we’ve worked to improve the clarity of printouts from the viewer.

We have also added a simple URL at the top of each printout to help you get you back to that document quickly.

If you have some suggestions for improving the site, please let us know on this blog or click on the Feedback links found at the bottom of Footnote pages.

We’re proud to release the new Footnote.com. I am the senior user interface designer for Footnote and wanted to share with you ten things that you can do on Footnote with this release that you might not have considered.

1. Look on the search results for annotations by members. For example this result shows that 2 annotations have been added to this document.
2. Browsing for a document is fast and easy. Our browse page provides a powerful tool that lets you drill down to a specific document or search within a title. You can even bookmark where you have browsed to or send that link to a friend. For example, here is the browse page going straight to the Gettysburg Address.
   
3. On any document you can annotate names, places, dates or text, which are then instantly searchable. This makes it easy for you to share your discoveries with the world.
4. Upload any of your own documents or photos. Then you can annotate names, places, dates, or text, which are then instantly searchable also. For example this headstone that was uploaded by a footnote member. Try uploading one of your own.
5. Have something interesting to say about a document you find or just want to add your two cents? You can leave comments on any document or photo.
6. Write a page about any topic. People will be able to find these pages too. I have started a page containing all of the images I’ve found with John Hancock’s signature.
7. Every member has a profile page that shows what they have written and how many annotations they have made—here’s mine.
8. All-Access members can invite friends to view documents attached to your member pages  Story Pages, and those friends won’t need to subscribe to see these documents. It makes it easier to collaborate and share ideas with them.
9. Let people know that you are a Footnote Member and what you have been doing on Footnote. Include a Footnote member card on your website or blog that shows how many annotations you have made. I have included one on my personal website.
10. Easily increase the type size on our site. We hope to make our site just a little more accessible for those that need the bigger type. Just go to your account and under Member Settings select “Change Font Size”.

While there are other things you can do on Footnote I hope these whet your appetite for the time being. Rest assured, we are already working on adding some more fun and exciting things to Footnote. Remember, that we always appreciate your feedback on the website and that together we discover.

Today we officially launched Footnote, making more than 4 million images available online through a special partnership with the National Archives.Many of these images are available for the first time on the web.

You can read the press release about the partnership with NARA on their site or on our site.

You can see some samples by clicking on the images on this page. A free registration is required to view them.

We’ll post more details about the new site later.

Archivist of the United States Allen Weinstein (left) and Footnote, Inc. CEO Russell Wilding sign the partnership contract.