LIVE: United States Archivist Ferriero On Preserving Our Nation’s History

LIVE: United States Archivist Ferriero On Preserving Our Nation’s History

As only the 10th person to serve as the Archivist of the United States, David Ferriero says it’s been amazing to learn responsibilities of the position and get to know the staff at the National Archives. He appeared on GoLocal LIVE with Molly O'Brien at GoLocal's downtown Providence studio.

“The most exciting thing is getting to know the records and getting to know the richness of the documentation that tells our country’s history, starting with the oaths of allegiance signed at Valley Forge by George Washington and the troops, all the way up to the tweets that are being created as I am speaking, in the White House,” Ferriero says. 

Early on in his position as Archivist, Ferriero says he was focused on the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) following the principles of Open Government. 

To meet the three pillars of Open Government; transparency, participation, and collaboration, Ferriero says they actively reached out to wider audiences by creating the Citizen Archivist program.

They also and created and began using multiple social media tools, among many other forms of outreach.