KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Dr. Colleen Shogan, who was recently appointed as the first female National Archivist, is in Kansas City touring the national archives and the Harry S. Truman Presidential Library.
Not many people know that Kansas City is home to 770-million national archives.
"I was able to see some of the background to the Dred Scott decision, for example," Shogan said. "And that’s remarkable to understand what happened. Dred Scott, of course, instigates the entire Civil War."
Among other moments in American History, Shogan is especially fascinated with the Suffrage Movement.
"I try to imagine they’re right behind me, because without them there wouldn’t be any opportunity, of course, women not having the opportunity to vote, but no political participation," Shogan said.
Like the Suffragettes, she's fighting for access — so everyone is able to learn more about their history. The easiest place for Kansas Citian's to do that is at the Truman Library.
"That history is local history, but it's national history, it's really world history," Shogan said. "It's very amazing that you have that right here at your fingertips."
As the world moves toward a digital, paperless life, Shogan said the archive system is also moving towards a digital records system. That comes with challenges, like server space.
"But another challenge is how do we provide those records for Americans for access," Shogan said. "What systems are we going to build so that researchers, and the interest of the public are able to look through those records, and be able to scan them in a way that gives them the information that they need."
It's all to make sure that even those who can't travel to see our nation's greatest achievements, aren't left out.
"We wanna have the records to be accessible for the current generation, the current Americans here in the United States, but we’re also preserving that access for generations to come," Shogan said. "We really want to turn our visitors, our in person visitors into lifelong users."
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