| National Archives and Records Administration (NARA)
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 Research entrance at the National Archives Building as seen from 7th Steet & Pennsylvania Avenue, Washington, D.C. Contact Information
E-mail: Several e-mail options are available at National Archives and Records Administration
Mailing Address:[1]
The National Archives at College Park, Maryland (Archives II) (Headquarters)
- 8601 Adelphi Road
- College Park, MD 20740-6001
National Archives in Washington, D.C. (Archives I)[2]
- National Archives Building—Research Entrance
- 700 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Telephone:[1] 1-866-272-6272 , or TDD 301-837-0482
Fax: 301-837-0483
Hours:[3] 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:[4]
- 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.
Obtaining Reproductions of Records
Copies of the records can be accessed three ways:
- Ordered online from the NARA
- Ordered by mail using the NATF Form 86.
- Visiting the National Archives Building in Washington, D.C. in person and request to see the original
Regional Archives-Facilities and Affiliated Archives by State
A full list of facilities can be found on the National Archives' Visit Us page.
- National Archives at Atlanta: Alabama,Florida,Georgia,Kentucky,Mississippi,North Carolina, South Carolina,Tennessee.
- National Archives at Boston: Connecticut,Massachusetts,Maine,New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Vermont
- National Archives at Chicago: Illinois,Indiana,Michigan,Minnesota,Ohio, Wisconsin
- National Archives at Denver: Colorado,Montana,New Mexico, North Dakota,South Dakota,Utah,Wyoming
- National Archives at Fort Worth: Arkansas,Louisiana,Oklahoma,Texas
- National Archives at Kansas:Iowa,Kansas,Minnesota,Missouri,Nebraska,North Dakota,South Dakota
- National Archives at New York City: New Jersey,New York,Puerto Rico,United States Virgin Islands
- National Archives at Philadelphia:Delaware,Maryland,Pennsylvania,Virginia,West Virginia
- National Archives at St. Louis
- National Archives at Riverside: Arizona,Clark County, Nevada, Southern California
- National Archives at San Francisco: California:northern & central,Nevada,Hawaii,US Navy Bases on foreign territory-Pacific and Far East,America Samoa,Guam,Trust Territory Pacific Islands
- National Archives at Seattle: Alaska,Idaho,Oregon,Washington
Federal Records Centers
A full list can be found on the National Archives' Federal Records Center Locations page.
Internet Sites and Databases
National Archives Programs
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, immigration, and naturalization 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.[7]
National Archives Catalog
The National Archives Catalog contains descriptions for NARA's nationwide holdings in the Washington, DC area; regional facilities; and Presidential Libraries. The Catalog is a work in progress and currently contains descriptions for 95% of our records, described at the series level. For detailed information on how to use the catalog see National Archives and Records Administration Catalog.
Record Groups with Digitized Records
The Record Group Explorer and Record Group Explorer Data webpages will identify record groups with digital records in the National Archives Catalog.
Selected Record Groups with Digitized Records
The following links identify by Record Group with some digitized content. Under "Browse our Records" click on the "Explorer" link to see "Textual records," "Maps and Charts" and "Video and Audio"
FamilySearch Wiki - Collection Coverage Tables
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.[8]
- 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.
- Start Your Genealogy Research
- Claire Prechtel-Kluskens. In Their Owns Words: Family Stories in the National Archives. NGS Magazine 41 #4 (October-December 2015): 34-37.
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. 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). (FS Library Collection 973 A3gui). WorldCat entry.
- Robert B. Matchette ... et al.comp., Guide to Federal records in the National Archives of the United States. 3 volumes. Washington, D.C. : National Archives and Records Administration, 1995. FS Library 973 A3gui v. 1. Record groups 1-170 -- v. 2. Record groups 171-515 -- v. 3. Index.
- 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) (FS Library Collection 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) (FS Library Collection 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) (FS Library Collection 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 & services
Alternate Repositories
If you cannot visit or find a record at the National Archives Building (Archives I), a similar record may be available at one of the following.
Overlapping Collections
- National Archives at College Park, Maryland (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.
- 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.
- National Personnel Records Center (NPRC), St. Louis, government and military personnel records starting 1917.
- 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 & at many libraries--Revolutionary War pension & bounty land files.
- Castle Garden 1830-1892 and Ellis Island 1892-1924 indexes & images to New York City passenger arrivals.
FamilySearch Library
- For a list of microfilms at both NARA and the FamilySearch Library, click here.
NARA Series to FS Library film Conversion
Selected Collections
Neighboring Collections
- Library of Congress, Washington, DC, Local History and Genealogy Reading Room is part of the world's largest library including 50,000 genealogies, 100,000 local histories, and collections of manuscripts, microfilms, maps, newspapers, photographs, and published material, strong in North American, British Isles, and German sources.
- 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.
- Washington DC FamilySearch Center has premium online services for free, and can offer research suggestions.
- Maryland State Archives, Annapolis, census, court, church, vital, military, probate, land, tax, immigration, naturalizations.
- Library of Virginia, Richmond, digital sources, databases, vital, military, newspapers, periodicals, tax, history, land records.
- State archives for each state have archival records for people dealing with the state governments. See the Library and Archives Wiki pages for each state of the United States for further details.
- 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.
Sources
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