National Archives and Records Administration

{| width="100%" cellspacing="10" cellpadding="5" style="border: 1px solid rgb(147, 139, 119); background: rgb(245, 241, 240) none repeat scroll 0% 50%; -moz-background-clip: -moz-initial; -moz-background-origin: -moz-initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: -moz-initial;" class="FCK__ShowTableBorders" National Archives and Records Administration (NARA)

Contact Information
E-mail: Several e-mail options are available at http://archives.gov/contact/inquire-form.html

Mailing Address:


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

National Archives in Washington, D.C. (Archives I) — Street Address:


 * National Archives Building—Research Entrance
 * 700 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW

Telephone: 1-866-272-6272, or TDD 301-837-0482 Fax:  301-837-0483

Hours: Monday, Tuesday, Saturday 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.; Wednesday, Thursday, Friday 9:00 am to 9:00 p.m. For record pull-times, holidays, and other details, click here.

Public transportation:


 * Subway. In Washington, DC, take Metrorail's Yellow or Green lines to the Archives/Navy Memorial station. The Archives/Navy Memorial stop is across Pennsylvania Avenue from the Archives building.
 * Bus. In Washington, DC, Metrobuses 30, 32, 34, 36, 53, A42, A46, A48, P1, P2, P4, P17, P19, and W13 stop at the National Archives on Pennsylvania Avenue.
 * Parking. No parking at the building is available for researchers. Several commercial parking lots are located nearby and metered curb parking may be available on nearby streets.

Internet sites and databases:


 * National Archives Archives.gov Internet home page
 * Genealogists/Family Historians—National Archives online guide
 * 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)
 * Browse list of research topics selected from frequently requested records at the National Archives

Collection Description
The National Archives has a vast collection of documents created by the United States federal government. The records most often used by genealogists are census, military, land, and immigration records.

The National Archives Building in Washington, DC (Archives I), houses textual and microfilm records relating to genealogy, American Indians, pre-World War II military and naval-maritime matters, the New Deal, the District of Columbia, the Federal courts, and Congress.

Tips

 * Researchers first visiting Archives I, the National Archives and Records Administration building in Washington, DC, proceed to the Research Center on the first floor. Depending upon the types of records requested, researchers may need to first obtain a researcher identification card. You can get your research card in the Research Center. During the registration process, new researchers will view a short PowerPoint orientation emphasizing the safe handling of records and explaining the most basic research procedures, responsibilities, and rules. New researchers should plan for a total of 15-20 minutes to complete the registration process.
 * Most of the 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

 * 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.
 * 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). [FHL book 973 J53e]. 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). [FHL book 973 A3sz].

Substitute Repositories
Microfilm copies of many of the records at the National Archives are available at the Family History Library, other major archives and libraries, and at regional branches of the National Archives. You may purchase microfilms from the National Archives or request photocopies of the records by using forms obtained from the Archives.

National Archives—Regional Branches. For a list of 12+ Regional Branches of the National Archives, click here.

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Overlapping Collections



Similar Collections



Neighboring Collections