Genealogical Resources at the National Archives
Though we do not have family trees or documents showing lineage of your ancestors and their descendants, we do have many documents you can research to construct your family's history.
For example, if your relatives:
- lived in the U.S. sometime from 1790-1930, they may have been included in the census.
- were veterans of an American war, beginning with the American Revolution, they may have military and pension records.
- arrived in a boat at an American port or crossed borders from Canada or Mexico, they may be listed in immigration records.
- became American citizens through the Federal courts, they may be found in our naturalization records holdings.
- were members of an American Indian tribe, you may find them in our Native American records.
- was of African-American descent, you may find them in post-Civil War records.
- obtained a United States Government passport, their passport applications may be found.
- received a land grant from the United States Government, you may find a land entry case file for them.
- and many more circumstances that generated records ....
Using the NARA web site:
Very few records are online, so doing actual research on your ancestors is very limited here. However, this web site can help you prepare for your visit to the National Archives. This includes finding microfilm roll numbers for records you may want to search or order copies of. You can also read articles about the records, and perhaps get ideas for new types of records to investigate.What's Online Here:
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Information on how to start genealogical research, with links
to web sites with tutorials
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Information about many types of genealogical
records held in the Archives
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Online documents from certain
collections in the Archival Research Catalog (ARC).
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Genealogy Workshop schedules at our
facilities nationwide
- Articles from Prologue on
various genealogical research topics.
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Database to
Search Microfilm in our holdings, with descriptions and locations for each.
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Guides to our microfilm, roll-by-roll
listings for Census
(1790-1890,
1900,
1910,
1920,
1930),
Passenger Lists,
American Indians,
Black Studies,
and Military Records.
- WWII casualty records in the Archival
Research Catalog (ARC)
- Casualty lists
for the Korean and Vietnam Wars
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Search for Casualty lists for WWII, Korean War and Vietnam War using
the Access to Archival Databases (AAD) system
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Search for Passenger lists into the Port of
New York, 1846-1851, the "Famine Irish data files" using
the Access to Archival Databases system (AAD).
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Search selected
Chinese exclusion lists
- Steps on how to search the Dawes
Rolls online
(Native American records), including the Dawes Rolls Index and Final Rolls
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Index to the Applications Submitted for the Eastern Cherokee Roll of 1909 (Guion Miller Roll)
- Information on how to order copies of records, and
ordering online for certain genealogical
and veterans records.
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List of Federal
agencies whose records may be of genealogical interest.
- List of Genealogy
related books and CD-ROMs available for use
in the Archives Library Information Center (ALIC) in the National Archives Building in
Washington, D.C.
- List of genealogy-related
journal
articles which used records in the National Archives.
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Links to Ancestry Library and
Heritage Quest. We offer free-of-charge access to these databases
from all National Archives facilities nation-wide.
To use these web sites from outside of NARA, you will have to subscribe to the respective service.
These links are provided for your convenience; they are not endorsements of the services.
- Information on visiting our facilities nationwide and
links to the holdings of each regional archives.
- Links to other genealogical resources on the web.
What's Not Online Here:
- Family trees
- Genealogical databases or search engines for ancestors listed in NARA records
- Records of individuals, including pages or images from the census, passenger lists, military records, or maps.
Ways to Conduct Archival Research
If the archival materials you are seeking aren't available on the web, it may be best to visit an archives to conduct your research. Archival research sometimes is difficult and can take many hours to complete. If you can not visit us at one of our research facilities nationwide, you can:- Rent or
purchase copies of our microfilm and use the film at a local library.
See information about our
available microfilm publications.
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Hire an independent researcher to conduct archival research for you.
- Visit a local genealogical society library or public library with a large genealogical collection, state archives, or LDS Family History Center, and use our microfilm in their holdings.
If You Are New To Genealogical Research
If you are new to genealogical research or you need a "refresher," see our page called About Genealogy and Family History Research.Questions?
Contact us at http://www.archives.gov/contact/