At our upcoming eConference, “America: Our Records and Our History,” Michael Strauss, Accredited Genealogist, will be teaching the first lecture about the National Archives. His wonderful handout includes helpful details to help us prepare to research within NARA facilities. We are sharing five facts about the National Archives from Michael’s handout.
1. Created in 1934
The act that created the National Archives was passed in 1934 and the building was officially opened to the public in 1938.
2. Regional and Special Facilities
The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) has ten regional facilities across the United States. These regional facilities have their own archival holdings and often have microfilm collections covering the geographic areas of their responsibility.
NARA has three Special Facilities to handle personnel files of both U.S. government employees and military personnel, in Suitland, MD, St. Louis, MO, and Valmeyer, IL.
3. Presidential Libraries
NARA has thirteen presidential libraries to preserve the history and documents of some of our former presidents.
4. Record Groups
All records inside the National Archives are arranged by Record Group (RG). For example, RG 94 is Records of the AGO (Adjutant General’s Office), 1780s-1917, and includes records relating to the war department.
5. Guide to Record Groups
The National Archives has published an online web-based guide to each Record Group, based on the book Guide to Federal Records in the National Archives of the United States by Robert B. Matchette with Anne B. Eales.
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Join us on June 6
To learn more from Michael Strauss about how to research at the National Archives, please join us at our eConference, “America: Our Records and Our History,” by registering here.
Schedule (Arizona time, currently PDT):
8:00 a.m. Welcome
8:15 a.m. Michael L. Strauss – Introduction to the Records of the National Archives
9:15 a.m. Break
9:30 a.m. Peggy Clemens Lauritzen – United States Tax Lists and Records
10:30 a.m. Break
10:45 a.m. Michael L. Strauss – Military Research: Providing for the Common Defense
11:45 a.m. Break
12:00 p.m. Billie Stone Fogarty – Bounty Land and the American Soldier
Recordings of the presentations will be available for 30 days following the broadcast.
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