This 2012 proclamation for Rosenwald Schools Day is just one of the hundreds of thousands of records from the Perdue administration preserved by the State Archives
Though the transition to the new gubernatorial administration is only a few weeks old, the State Archives has been working behind the scenes for months to keep government transparent and ensure that all records from the previous administration are retained for posterity. Since October, nearly 400,000 digital records from the Perdue administration have been transferred to Archives for permanent storage. These files include more than one terabyte (1 TB) of videos, images, emails, databases, press releases, Executive Orders, Proclamations, speeches, appointments, reports and more. To put it in perspective, 1 TB of information is the equivalent of about 330,000 photos, 250,000 songs or 1,000 hours of digital video. The Archives and State Library have also regularly captured more than 35 websites and social media accounts managed by the Office of the Governor, including Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Flickr accounts. For more than 100 years, the State Archives has captured the paper records of gubernatorial administrations, but since the dawn of the computer age the Archives has added digital transfers like this one to its normal preservation practices to ensure that all records are retained. To ensure the authenticity of records, the Archives uses strict file integrity protocols, and as a result of those protocols, the Archives can demonstrate that the files currently stored in its repository are the exact files transferred to it from the Office of the Governor. Perhaps the most amazing part of this story is that the work of the Archives isn’t finished yet. Staff members are still in the process of preserving several email accounts and other records. Check out the Digital Collections of the State Archives and State Library, the State Government Web Site Archive and the beta State Government Social Media Archive to browse records from the Office of the Governor and other state agencies from the comfort of your own home.