 fellow esteemed colleagues, members of the archival family, and friends. Good morning, and welcome to the 2023 Archives Fair sponsored by the National Archive Assembly here at the National Archives and Records Administration in which we lovingly call A1 here in Washington, D.C. My name is Keith Owens, and I am this year's president of the National Archive Assembly. I am currently the core manager of Core 2 at the National Personal Records Center in St. Louis, Missouri, part of the Federal Records Center branch of the National Archives. After my detail is complete, I'll return to my normal job as a preservation specialist team lead in the preservation and conservation programs in St. Louis. I have worked for NARA for 22 years. Now before I get started, I wish to thank some people who were instrumental in making this year's archive fair possible. John Laglonek, this year's vice president of the National Archive Assembly, organized and arranged everything you see here today. John, your contribution and work is so greatly appreciative and respected that I believe that it's only fitting to ask everyone here to show you our deepest appreciation. Thank you, John. So many people have helped John with these arrangements this year. Now I'm going to try and do this, Lee. Lee Jelonella? Yes. Lee Jelonella from the Smithsonian, all of the presenters and vendors and exhibitors and audiovisual and media staff here at NARA have not to be forgotten the office of administrators and office of the archivist of the United States, Dr. Colleen Shogan, who will be welcoming us and sharing some thoughts with us immediately after lunch today. Now my dad used to say, if it can't be said in 20 minutes, it's probably not worth saying. So in the spirit of my father and you can thank him later, my opening remarks will be less than 20 minutes. In July 2000, a request was sent to the National Personnel Record Center in St. Louis by a lady named Ingrid Patterson who was looking for information about her biological father, John McLaren. Ingrid Patterson is considered a war babe, a child of an American soldier and whose mother was a German citizen. John was an enlisted army soldier who met Ingrid's mother while she was living in Salzburg, Austria after escaping Berlin as the Russian soldiers were occupying the city the last days of World War II. Ingrid's mother became pregnant and John was sent back to the states and promised to send for her after he got settled. But unfortunately they were not able to reconnect. But Ingrid's mother shared stories about her biological father and a single photo of him holding an Italian greyhound. Ingrid's mother married an American soldier who moved them to Yazoo City, Mississippi when she was 12 years old in the early 1960s where she became an American citizen. Almost 40 years later in July of 2000, Ingrid had the courage to contact the National Personal Records Center to see if there was any information about her biological father. Within a week she received information about his last known whereabouts and contacted the local newspaper to see if they had anything in their archive about him. Unfortunately she found out that John had passed away in the mid-1970s in North Carolina but had four surviving children. Ingrid found the address of one of the children and sent a letter with photos of herself, the only photo she had of John, the photo of her family, and eldest son's graduation photo from Baylor University majoring in church music. When John's children received the letter there were a lot of questions. But the one thing that solidified Ingrid's story to them was the photo of her eldest son which was an exact replica of their father. None of the other grandchildren on that side of the family looked like John, only her son did. Unbeknownst to that young man, Ingrid's eldest son, 18 months later began working at the National Personal Records Center in St. Louis and her eldest son was me. And 22 years later, I'm standing in front of you. As we go throughout today and to our day-to-day lives within the world of archives, it can sometimes be mundane and tedious. But in the big picture we are making it possible to help millions of people like Ingrid Patterson. We are making it possible for artifacts to be able to be seen, explored, researched, interpreted for at least the next 500 years and hopefully longer. From a military record that is currently archived at the National Personal Records Center in St. Louis to a bug that is displayed at a natural history museum to oral histories of tribal elders in American Indian tribal archives, to an airplane at the Smithsonian, to a volume of books at the Library of Congress, to a metal banister in which Abraham Lincoln stood behind as he spoke to a crowd located in a small county historical society. We must all come back to the basics that what we are doing, it all matters. When I put my name or initials on a form in which explains something that I have done to an artifact, I am often humbled by the thought that someone 500 years from now will see my name and will have absolutely no idea who I am. But I hope that they will see my work and say, whoever that Keith Owens guy was, he did a good job. Today I challenge you to glean one idea from a conversation, from a session, from an exhibit, from a vendor, from a representative at one of the booths. Find out one idea and continue to build. Let's go forth and make it possible for one more story, like my mom's, to become a reality. Today let's steal, sharpen, steal. Today let's think about the future, the far future. Today let's think about the impact that we will have and let us continue the good work that we have already started. Thank you. John? Well, thank you Keith for those kind words and good morning everyone. Welcome to the National Archives in this great space and the 2023 Archives Fair, Happy Archives Month. I am so pleased that we are able to bring this event back in person and even more so to be able to hold it here in the Archives. In addition to currently serving as the Vice President for the National Archives Assembly, I currently work as an Archivist in the Electronic Records Reference Branch. For those of you who have been to previous Archives Fairs, you may remember me as serving as the Master of Ceremonies for these Archives Fairs. I guess I like to talk about Archives, the Assembly and well, me. I'd like to extend my thanks to my co-organizer, Lee Gianella from the Smithsonian Institution Archives and Special Collections Council who reached out to us at the National Archives Assembly to get the ball rolling on bringing back the Archives Fair. The National Archives is currently experiencing low COVID transmission rates and face coverings are not required but individuals are welcome to wear masks if it makes you more comfortable. Please note that the DC Archives Fair is also committed to fostering an environment free from harassment and hate. Please notify the event organizers if you experience any unwanted negative behavior or harassment. So we have several great sessions lined up for today which will take place upstairs in the Jefferson Conference Room. So to get to that room you'll exit the theater, you'll go up to the second floor, so if you go out these doors you'll go down, there's an elevator at the end of the hall, you'll go up to the upper, to the second floor and the conference room will be just down the hall. You can also go up the stairs, two flights. If necessary there will be overflow viewing space in the Washington Conference Room. We'll be very excited if we need to use that overflow space and we're so happy that many of you have decided to join us here today. There are restrooms located just outside those conference rooms upstairs. So in addition to the great presentations that we're here today, several of our friends from local repositories have joined us in the theater lobby outside. They're looking forward to speaking with all of you today, so I hope that everyone will take the opportunity to speak with our colleagues and hear about the great work that they are doing. Restrooms are located in the lobby hall and the elevator at the end of the hall will bring you to the upper level and the Jefferson Conference Room. After the morning sessions, the lunch will be on your own. We encourage you to visit any of the local restaurants within walking distance of the archives. They would love to serve you. They have missed having us downtown. After lunch, please come back to the theater when we will have the archivist of the United States, Dr. Colleen Chogan, offer remarks to all of us. At the end of the day, please join Lee and myself in the Jefferson Conference Room for an informal feedback session so that you can let us know how we did and what we can do better next time. I hope that everyone has a wonderful Archives Fair and a great day. Let's get out there and get things started. Thank you all for coming.