This month, David Ferriero took a look at the check the United States wrote in 1867 to purchase Alaska for $7.1 million.
Why?
"Because I could," Ferriero said.
That is the beginning of an interesting article about the new Archivist of the United States that was written by Cate Lecuyer and published in the Gloucester (Massachusetts) Daily Times Online. The Archivist is a native of nearby Beverly, Massachusetts and this is sort of a "hometown boy makes good" article. Lecuyer also wrote some things that may be of interest to genealogists:
After President Obama nominated him over the summer, the Senate last month confirmed Ferriero as the 10th archivist of the United States. The job requires keeping track of all federal means of communication, from the original Declaration of Independence, to millions of photographs, maps, motion pictures and audio recordings, to presidential e-mails and Facebook and Twitter updates.
"We have 10 billion things," he said. And growing. As more and more information goes online, one of the government's top challenges is figuring out the best way to not only convert paper documents into electronic records, but to preserve the constant and evolving stream of digital discourse that occurs in every branch of government.
You can read the full story at http://www.gloucestertimes.com/punews/local_story_349224118.html?keyword=topstory.
