Ancestry Magazine

Access to genealogical records is threatened.

According to a 1997 Newsweek article, “42 million Americans have started to trace their heritage.” That reinforces an earlier USA Today poll in which 74.4 percent of the respondents indicated that they were “extremely/very interested” in learning more about their family trees. We’ve felt the surge in interest here at Ancestry, too—we recently had 190,000 visitors to www.ancestry.com in one day. But all genealogists, whether long-time practitioners or new converts, have a dilemma. On the one hand, we are dedicated to saving the past, and this dedication has driven us to find ways to clean and store crumbling books and records. We have indexed miles of precious documents so that we can better identify them and have quicker access to them. We have taken a strong role in legislating record preservation.

Pulling us in the other direction—with brilliant color, bright lights, and the speed of sound—are the technologies of the present. We live in exciting times. Technology is luring us into some quick fixes. We all tend to be dazzled by the breathtaking changes taking place in front of our eyes. Who doesn’t want an immediate answer to the mystery that has frustrated our research for years? But technological advances open paths that are as yet untraveled, and family historians must reconcile doing research in old, original records with using computerized facsimiles. Our technology specialist, Mark Howells, sums up this fine line: “As with any genealogical resource which has been derived from original source material, computerized information should be used as a road sign pointing back to the original source records.”

The repositories of some of these original source records are spotlighted in this issue’s article about the National Archives. The archives houses incredible records that belong to all of us. Right now these precious pieces of our personal history are conveniently located in places most researchers can get to easily, maintained by archivists who, through years of experience, have come to know the collections intimately. While working on the staff of the National Archives in Chicago, I often saw the effect that touching original records had on researchers. There is a certain magic that takes place when someone can hold the very document on which an ancestor has signed his or her name or sees the photograph of a never-before-known grandfather affixed to a naturalization document. Federal court records and other agency files reveal facts about our ancestors’ lives that are available nowhere else.

Yet there is a very real danger that these unique treasures will be taken out of our reach. The Archivist of the United States, John Carlin, released a report last year entitled “Ready Access to Essential Evidence: The Strategic Plan of the National Archives and Records Administration 1997—2007,” which states: “We will consolidate archival holdings in a few repositories.” Another alarming note on the same page of this report states, “To the extent that it is cost-effective, we will selectively reappraise the record material already in NARA’s custody, seek ways to reduce archival holdings that duplicate those of other institutions, and review existing retention periods for temporary records.”

This “ready access” plan makes it clear: there will be consolidations. Some of the regional research centers of the National Archives will be closed. Ironically, one of the NARA facilities immediately threatened is the most-used of all the regions: that of New York City. A New York Times article from the past year suggests that “some of the New York region’s most prized paperwork might be shipped out of state,” and this has “sent a shiver through the community of archivists and historians.” Any such move, it is said, would take a piece of New York’s soul. In a conversation with me last year, Mr. Carlin expressed his belief that genealogists needn’t worry because they will still have access to microfilmed and digitized records. But, as we all know, there is no substitute for having access to the original documents.

We should know soon whether Mr. Carlin’s cutting plans will become a reality: the first stages of his plan are to be implemented within this calendar year. Will we have our records removed to some remote storage area, or will they stay where we really do have ready access? It is possible that if enough of us speak up about this important issue, we might force him to stop and reconsider his plan. To make your voice heard, write to your local congressional representatives, and to:

John Carlin, Archivist of the United States
National Archives and Records Administration
8601 Adelphi Road
College Park, MD 20740

Loretto (Lou) Szucs
Executive Editor