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The American Legion National Library and Museum administers the Digital Archive, which represents the library's digital holdings. The Digital Archive captures, distributes and preserves digital products of the national organization of The American Legion. Here you can find the proceedings of national meetings, reports, brochures, post and officer manuals, and serial publications in various digital formats. Content grows daily as new collections and items are added to the Digital Archive.

The American Legion Digital Archive content system is organized around collections that correspond to the administrative entities and publications of the national organization including the National Executive Committee, National Convention, The American Legion Dispatch, etc. Within each collection there are a number of related collections. Each collection may contain an unlimited number of items.

Return to the Digital Archive.

Browse allows you to go through a list of items in some specified order:

• Browse by Collection List takes you through the collections in alphabetical order and allows you to see the related collections and sub-collections.
• Browse by Title allows you to move through an alphabetical list of all titles of items.
• Browse by Author allows you to move through an alphabetical list of all authors of items.
• Browse by Keyword allows you to move through an alphabetical list of keywords assigned to items.
• Browse by Publication Date allows you to move through a list of items in reverse chronological order.

To search all collections, use the search box at the top of the navigation bar on the left or the search box in the middle of the home page.

To limit your search to a specific group of collections or collection, navigate to that collection group or specific collection and use the search bar on that page.

Example from the Collections List page:

Here are some search hints:

Search results can be refined by Date, Keyword and Format Type. Select a term(s) from the Narrow Results box in the lower left section of the search results page. The search will return only the items that match the category selected exactly. The terms used to limit results are called filters. These are displayed at the top of the search results page.

Example of a search result page:

The Keyword and Format Type sections use controlled vocabulary. A controlled vocabulary is a set of terms which form a dictionary of descriptions of particular types of content or subject matter. These are maintained by standards bodies in order to standardize the way that similar materials are categorized in archives. This aids searching by increasing the likelihood that the relevant materials will be returned by the user's search.

The Keyword controlled vocabulary is a locally maintained vocabulary specific to The American Legion ecosystem. Format Type is the second controlled vocubulary used throughout the system. This vocabulary is derived from Nomenclature 3.0 for Museum Cataloging by Paul Bourcier, Ruby Rogers and the Nomenclature Committee and applied with local best practices.

Relevant Collection Groups

• The Resolutions and Governing Documents of The American Legion is a group of collections central to researching the current policies of The American Legion. The collection group includes current National Executive Committee and National Convention resolutions from the year 1992 to present. The central governing documents of the National Organization such as the Constitution and By-laws and the Rules of the NEC are also available in this group.
• National Meeting Digests collection group includes meeting digests from 2006 to present. Use this collection group for researching former policies of the organization. Digests include the full text of all resolutions passed in a given meeting including legislative and resolutions that are no longer en force.

Important Fields

• Description section of the item page contains information about the origin of the resolution and the committee or commission that submitted the resolution.
• Keyword browse section includes the meeting a resolution was issued from, committee or commission the resolution came through and if the resolution has legislative intent. Examples: 2006 National Convention, Legislative Intent, Americanism, Economic

Build a Resolution Search

Search by resolution number

Meeting to meeting resolution numbers are issued beginning with number 1. This results in multiple resolutions with the same number. For a precise search, use the phrase "resolution no. " including the resolution number with quotes around the statement. This will return all resolution no. 1. Add the year, topic of the resolution or part of the resolution title to narrow the search.

Examples:

• "resolution no. 1" national defense
• "resolution no. 1" 2011
• "resolution no. 35" Legion riders

Search by unique identifier

Each approved resolution is assigned a unique identifier for easy identification and retrieval. The identifier includes the year, meeting abbreviation and three digit resolution number (i.e. 035, 001, 121). For example, a search for 2007F035 will retrieve resolution number 35 from the 2007 Fall National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting.

Meeting Abbreviations

• F - Fall NEC meeting
• N - National Convention
• P - Pre-Convention NEC meeting
• Q - Post-Convention NEC meeting
• S - Spring NEC meeting

The Digital Archive content is organized around groups of collections which correspond to administrative entities, and types of publications. Within each group there are several collections. Each individual collection contains items. This organization gives the system flexibility.

Each group of collections has its own entry page displaying information, news and links reflecting that group, as well as a descriptive list of individual collections.

Individual collections can be organized around a topic, or by type of information (such as resolutions or newsletters) or by any other sorting method useful in organizing the digital items.

Each collection has its own entry page displaying information, news and links reflecting the interests of users of that collection.

Note that only administrators and content providers are authorized to sign into the system.

When you access an area of the Digital Archive that requires authorization, the system will require you to log in. Administrators and content providers can have sign on access. Restricted functions, such as content submission, require authorization.

Content providers before you log in for the first time, you will need to click on "Authorized Users" and follow the instructions. After that, you will need to enter your e-mail address and password in the log-in form that appears. Your e-mail address should include your username and domain name. It is not case sensitive.

Example: usmith@legion.org

Type your password exactly as you entered it originally. It is case sensitive. Be sure to click on the "log in" button to continue.

For help with using the Digital Archive and questions about the site, please contact your Digital Archive Administrator.