District of Columbia Archives and Libraries: Difference between revisions

=== [[National Archives and Records Administration|National Archives I]] ===

:'''Archives I''' has nationwide censuses, pre-WWI military service and pensions, passenger lists, naturalizations, passports, federal bounty land, homesteads, bankruptcy, ethnic sources, prisons, and federal employees. 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.<ref>[http://www.archives.gov/dc-metro/washington/researcher-info.html Information for Researchers at the National Archives Building in Washington, DC] in ''National Archives'' (accessed 31 December 2013).</ref>

| [[Image:US National Archives II.jpg|thumb|right|263px|National Archives II at College Park, MD]]

=== [[National Archives at College Park, Maryland|National Archives II]] ===

:'''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, modern military records, passport applications, and District of Columbia records.<ref name="DB2">William Dollarhide and Ronald A. Bremer. ''America's Best Genealogy Resource Centers'' (Bountiful, Utah: Heritage Quest, 1998), 2. {{WorldCat|39493985|item|disp=At various libraries (WorldCat)}}; {{FSC|728550|item|disp=FS Library Ref Book 973 J54d}}.</ref>

|}[[File:Washington National Records Center Stack Area with Employee Servicing Records.jpg|thumb|right|246px|WNRC stack area in Suitland, MD]]

=== Washington National Records Center (WNRC) ===

:Older than 15-years federal criminal court, federal civil court, and federal bankruptcy court records, and the federal agency records from the '''District of Columbia''', Maryland, Virginia, and West Virginia.<ref name="DB29">Dollarhide and Bremer, 29.</ref>

=== [[National Personnel Records Center (NPRC)]] ===

:The National Personnel Records Center in St. Louis is part of the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA). It is the central repository for both the military and civil services personnel-related records. It maintains military personnel records for servicemen and servicewomen discharged from 1912 to 1952* (*i.e. 62 years after discharge). Use '''[http://www.archives.gov/veterans/military-service-records/standard-form-180.html Standard Form SF-180]''' to order files.  Military records prior to WWI are at [[National Archives at College Park, Maryland|National Archives II]] in College Park, Maryland.<ref>Dollarhide and Bremer, 134.</ref> <ref>[http://www.archives.gov/st-louis/ National Archives at St. Louis] in ''National Archives'' (accessed 18 March 2014).</ref>

[[File:District of Columbia map.png|thumb|right|500px|<center>Area map of the District of Columbia. It shows neighboring counties in Maryland and Virginia. It also shows selected towns in Maryland with genealogical repositories, and the Independent Cities of Virginia which keep records like a county.</center>]]

=== Bureau of Land Management Eastern States Office ===

:Original land records for all transfers of U.S. '''federal land''' to individuals in those states touching, or east of the Mississippi River. This includes land sales (cash or credit), homesteads, bounty land for military service, mineral and timberland rights transfers. See the Wiki article '''[[Land Patent Search]]''' for an explanation and link to the index. The BLM also has plat maps, tract books, and the original patents. With a patent description a researcher can access the land entry papers at the [[National Archives and Records Administration|National Archives I]].

=== City of Fairfax Regional Library ===

:Regional history and genealogy, Confederate Civil War military history, maps, photos, manuscripts, local newspapers, and city directories.<ref>[http://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/library/branches/vr/ Virginia Room] in ''Fairfax County, Virginia'' (accessed 13 January 2017).</ref>

=== District of Columbia Archives ===

:'''''Research must be scheduled ahead of time.''''' Birth certificates 1874-1916 (after 1916 not yet open), death certificates 1874-1932, marriage certificates 1870-1965 (after 1965 not yet open), wills and probate records 1801-1999, probate administration cases 1879-1958, apprenticeship indentures 1812-1893, guardianships and administrative bonds1862-1939, Recorder of Deeds land records 1797-1930, and DC jail committals 1850-1934.<ref>[http://os.dc.gov/service/district-columbia-archives District of Columbia Archives] in ''DC.gov'' (accessed 7 January 2017).</ref>

[[File:Moultrie Courthouse in DC.JPG|thumb|right|280px|The DC Marriage Bureau is in Room JM-690 of the Moultrie Courthouse in Washington, DC]]

=== District of Columbia Public Library ===

:City directories, marriages and deaths in MD DC and VA, obituaries, DC area newspapers, church and cemetery record indexes, censuses, naturalizations, emancipations, free Negros, runaways, fugitive slave cases, guardianship index, indentures and apprenticeship, and biographies.<ref>[http://www.dclibrary.org/node/3293 Genealogy Resources] in ''DC Public Library'' (accessed 7 January 2017).</ref> The library's [http://dclibrary.org/research/collections Special Collections] include Washingtoniana, The Peabody Room (Georgetown historical resources), and the Black Studies Center.

=== District of Columbia Vital Records ===

:Birth and death records 1874-present. Persons entitled to purchase a vital record include: the registrant, an immediate nuclear family member, a legal guardian, or a legal representative. Birth and death records become public after 100 years have elapsed from the date of birth and 50 years have elapsed from the date of death.<ref>[http://doh.dc.gov/service/vital-records Department of Health - Vital Records] in ''DC.gov'' (accessed 7 January 2017).</ref>

=== Gallaudet University Library ===

:Library collections include 19 indexes of birth, marriage, and death records from Deaf publications, Gallaudet alumni cards, Gallaudet faculty/staff cards, Pennsylvania School for the Deaf applications, manuscripts, photographs, biographies, and other genealogical resources.<ref>[http://www.gallaudet.edu/library-deaf-collections-and-archives/genealogy-resources.html Genealogy Resources] in ''Gallaudet University Library Deaf Collections and Archives'' (accessed 7 January 2017).</ref>[[File:E. Barrett Prettyman Federal Courthouse, DC.jpg|thumb|right|240px|Historical Society of the District of Columbia Circuit is in the E. Barrett Prettyman Courthouse in Washington, DC]]

=== Historical Society of the District of Columbia Circuit ===

:Covers the U.S. District Court (a federal trial court) and the U.S. Court of Appeals for Washington DC only, but historically has had an outsized influence as a frequent forum for litigation involving federal agencies. Collection includes oral histories, biographies, and papers.<ref>[http://dcchs.org/ Welcome] in ''Historical Society of the District of Columbia Circuit'' (accessed 7 January 2017).</ref>

=== Historical Society of Washington, D.C. ===

:Think of this as the state archives for the District of Columbia because of the 200 years of local history documents for genealogists. This includes families and notable individuals, organizations, businesses,  neighborhoods, religious institutions, local houses of worship, funeral homes, diaries and personal papers, and early 18th century land records.<ref>[http://www.dchistory.org/research/about-library-collections/ About the Library and Collections] in  ''Historical Society of Washington, D.C.'' (accessed 7 January 2017).</ref> Researchers are welcomed in the Kiplinger Research Library by prior appointment only Tuesday through Friday. Access to the library and collections is free of charge.<ref>[http://www.dchistory.org/research/ Research] in ''Historical Society of Washington, D.C.'' (accessed 7 January 2017).</ref>

=== [[Library of Virginia]] ===

:Includes information about the Virginia residents who once were part of the '''District of Columbia'''. Their large genealogical collection has family Bibles, birth, marriages, deaths, divorces, histories, biographies, and newspapers. Many of their manuscripts are now online. The '''''General Library''''' contains printed materials, while the '''''Research and Information Services Division''''' consists of government records and other historical documents. Many collections are available '''''online''''', such as Confederate pensions, veterans and widows, an index to wills and administrations, Revolutionary War bounty land, and Virginia Land Office patents and grants.<ref>Dollarhide and Bremer, 97.</ref>  <ref>[http://www.lva.virginia.gov/public/using_collections.asp#_guides Using the Collections] in ''Library of Virginia'' (accessed 7 January 2014).</ref>

=== [[Maryland State Archives]] ===

:This is the premier facility for locating Maryland and '''District of Columbia''' ancestors. The Maryland State Archives [https://msa.maryland.gov  online] has nearly all available public records from 1634 to 1789; most original state and county records through the mid-twentieth century; microfilm copies of land, probate, and vital records to the present; and over 130 major card indexes to Maryland land records and early settlers, newspapers, county records, church records, family, and business records. This is the most complete collection of any of the 13 colonies. It can take up the three days just to check the indexes.<ref name="DB55">Dollarhide and Bremer, 55.</ref> For more information about the state archives, see the following references.

:*Maryland. Hall of Records. ''A Guide to the Index Holdings at the Hall of Records''. Rev., Bulletin, [Maryland. Hall of Records] No. 17. (Annapolis, Maryland: Hall of Records, 1972.) {{FSC|118379|item|disp=FS Catalog book 975.2 A1 no. 56.}} This is a county-by-county list of indexes and years covered.  

[[Image:New York Public Library exterior.jpg|thumb|right|280px|New York Public Library in Manhattan]]

=== [[New York Public Library]]  ===

:This is one of the largest research libraries in the world including excellent genealogical resources for the '''District of Columbia'''. The library has city and telephone directories, vital records indexes, local histories, genealogies, federal and state censuses, passenger lists, genealogical collections (including DAR transcripts), and church records.<ref name="DB81">Dollarhide and Bremer, 81.</ref> For maps, write to the Map Division at the same address.