National Archives at College Park, Maryland

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Contact Information
E-mail: I have a question form.

Address:


 * National Archives and Records Administration
 * 8601 Adelphi Road
 * College Park, MD 20740-6001

Telephone: 1-866-272-6272 Fax:  301-837-0483

Hours and holidays: Monday - Saturday, 9 a.m. - 5 p.m.; closed Sundays and federal holidays.

Driving directions, map, parking and public transportation:


 * Driving:  directions, map, and parking.
 * Metrorail Subway:  In College Park, take Metrorail's Green Line to Greenbelt, Fort Totten, or Prince George's Plaza stations, where you can connect with the R-3 or C-8 Metrobus to the National Archives.
 * Bus Service:  Two main Washington Area Metro bus routes run from Metrorail (Washington's subway) to NARA's College Park facility, Metrobus R-3, and the Metrobus C-8.

Internet sites and databases:


 * National Archives at College Park, Maryland contact us, location, hours, transportation, hotels, food service, shop for publications, information for researchers, things to do when you visit.
 * Archival Research Catalog (ARC) of NARA's nationwide holdings in the D.C. area, Regional Branches, and Presidential Libraries
 * Access to Archival Databases (AAD) of over 85 million digitized records created by 30 government agencies (but limited to only 475 out of NARA's 200,000 data files)

Collection Description
Archives II houses documents created after 1900 at the departments of Agriculture, Commerce, Education, Energy, Health and Human Services, Housing and Urban Development, Interior, Justice, Labor, State, Transportation, and Treasury, and modern military records.

Tips

 * Most National Archives records are arranged by record group. Record groups are based on the agency creating the record. For help identifying record groups to use for research see the following guides.

Guides

 * Research Our Records online catalog, new to archival research?, research in person, research a specific topic, research your ancestry, research military records, order copies of records, browse online exhibits.
 * Resources for Genealogists start your family research, events, browse popular topics, tools for genealogists, Family Tree Friday  blog, most requested records, 1940 census, genealogy-related articles, and caring for your family records.
 * Guide to Federal Records in the National Archives of the United States in National Archives Archives.gov at http://archives.gov/research/guide-fed-records/ (accessed 5 April 2009). Provides a general overview of NARA's holdings at the record group level, and is intended to assist researchers in identifying which record groups may have material relevant to their research topics. This Internet edition is an expanded version of Robert B. Matchette, and Jan Shelton Danis, Guide to Federal Records in the National Archives of the United States, 3rd ed., 3 vols. (Washington, D.C.: NARA, 1998). ( 973 A3gui). WorldCat entry.
 * Anne Bruner Eales, and Robert M. Kvasnicka, eds. Guide to Genealogical Research in the National Archives of the United States. 3rd ed. (Washington, DC: NARA, 2000) ( 973 J53e). WorldCat entry. Explains records collections used most by genealogical researchers: Census, Passenger Arrivals and Border Crossings, Naturalizations, Military, Land, Native Americans, African Americans, and more.
 * Loretto Dennis Szucs, and Sandra Hargreaves Luebking, The Archives: a Guide to the National Archives Field Branches (Salt Lake City: Ancestry, 1988) ( 973 A3sz). WorldCat entry. Several page descriptions for each Regional Branch, but mostly a list of record groups by number. Relatively little of the book is about the main branch.
 * Christina K. Schaefer, The Center: A Guide to Genealogical Research in the National Capitol Area (Baltimore: Genealogical Publ., 1996) ( 975.3 A3sc). WorldCat entry. Explains using research rooms, census, military, immigration, naturalization, passport, American Indian, African American, Confederate, tax, W.P.A., and federal land records.
 * US National Archives YouTube Channel - hundreds of videos about the archives and their collections and services

Alternate Repositories
If you cannot visit or find a source at the , a similar source may be available at one of the following.

Overlapping Collections


 * National Archives I, Washington DC, census, pre-WWI military service &amp; pensions, passenger lists, naturalizations, passports, federal bounty land, homesteads, bankruptcy, ethnic sources, prisons, and federal employees.
 * National Archives at Philadelphia, PA, records of federal agencies and courts for Delaware, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia and West Virginia, censuses, ships lists, naturalizations, and military records.
 * National Archives—Regional Branches. Each Regional Branch has copies of key records in Washington, as well as regional records, e.g. Atlanta for the Southern region, and Fort Worth has a strong American Indian collection.
 * NARA National Personnel Records Center, St. Louis, government and military personnel records starting 1917.
 * FamilySearch Library, Salt Lake City, has many National Archives census, immigration, land, military, and naturalization records on microfilm. For a list of microfilms at both NARA and the FamilySearch Library, click here.
 * Allen County Public Library (Indiana) has a premier genealogical periodical collection, genealogies, local histories, databases, military, censuses, directories, passenger lists, American Indians, African Americans, Canadians.
 * Mid-Continent Public Library Midwest Genealogy Center, Independence, MO, national censuses/indexes, 80,000 family histories, 100,000 local histories, 565,000 microfilms, 7,000 maps, and extensive newspaper clippings.
 * Ancestry.com ($) subscription site with wide-ranging images and indexes of National Archives census, military, naturalization, passenger arrivals, border crossings, and published passenger lists.
 * Fold3.com ($) subscription site with indexes and images to hundreds of National Archives record types including Revolutionary War and Civil War service records and pensions, draft registrations, census, etc.
 * HeritageQuestOnline.com ($) by subscription &amp; at many libraries--Revolutionary War pension &amp; bounty land files.
 * Castle Garden 1830-1892 and Ellis Island 1892-1924 indexes &amp; images to New York City passenger arrivals.

Neighboring Collections


 * Repositories in surrounding counties: in Maryland:  Anne Arundel, Calvert, Charles, Howard, Montgomery, in the District of Columbia, and in Virginia:  Alexandria, and Fairfax.
 * Library of Congress, Washington, DC, is the world's largest library including 50,000 genealogies, 100,000 local histories, manuscripts, microfilms, maps, newspapers, photographs, books, strong in North American, British Isles, and German sources. The Local History and Genealogy Reading Room has moved to the Main Reading Room, but services remiain unchanged.
 * Daughters of the American Revolution Library, Washington DC, Revolutionary War and colonial period, including family and local histories, cemetery transcriptions, Bible records, 15,000 genealogical membership applications.
 * DC Vital Records Division for birth and death records. DC Superior Court for marriage and divorce records.
 * Maryland State Archives, census, court, church, vital, military, probate, land, tax, immigration, naturalizations.
 * Maryland Vital Statistics birth, death, fetal death, marriage certificates, and divorce verifications.
 * Library of Virginia, Richmond, large genealogy collection including births and deaths 1853-1896, marriages before 1936, histories, biographies, newspapers, Bibles, and huge manuscript collection (about half online), military and Civil War records, deeds, wills and other court records.
 * Repositories in other surrounding states or district: Delaware, District of Columbia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and West Virginia
 * Library and Archives Canada, Ottawa, vital, census, immigration, naturalization, military, land, and employment.
 * Archivo General de la Nación (AGN), Mexico City, church, civil, census, court, history, military, migration, land.