Ancestry Magazine

[The National Archives] is the raw essence of history—millions of documents attesting to the building of this nation and to the everyday affairs of common individuals. It is Americana at its best: the story of who we are and what we have accomplished. Landmarks in history, and events that shaped the lives of otherwise unnoticed citizens, have been documented and preserved in the National Archives and its nationwide system.
—from The Archives: A Guide to the National Archives Field Branches, by Sandra Luebking and Loretto Dennis Szucs (Ancestry, 1988)

For eight years, I volunteered at the Chicago branch of the National Archives, eventually joining the staff there. But when I began work on The Archives with my friend Sandra Luebking more than two decades ago, the first place I went was the Central Plains field office in Kansas City. And last month, on the book’s 20th anniversary, the directors and staff at the Kansas City archives greeted me with the same enthusiasm that had long ago ignited me with a desire to bring awareness to NARA’s regional collections.

Most people think of the Declaration of Independence or the Constitution when they think about the holdings of the National Archives. Yet there are vast collections of your history and mine in NARA’s 11 regional branches. Census schedules, passenger lists, and some of NARA’s most heavily used records were microfilmed long ago. Several of these and other collections have been digitized and are available at Ancestry.com, and other NARA collections are being added to the site regularly. Still, there’s so much more.

Each region of the National Archives holds unique collections relating to millions of individuals who lived in every part of the nation. Federal court cases take up the biggest portion of the stacks in most regions. And every region has unheralded cases that shed light on bankruptcies, bootlegging, and other chapters of our ancestors’ personal histories.

Regional offices hold shelf after shelf of naturalization records, most of which have not been microfilmed. Stories of pirates and shipwrecks are found in the archives in port cities. Chicago has records for a number of inland waterways and Corps of Engineers records. Fort Worth holds the largest collection of records from the Bureau of Indian Affairs. Denver maintains a mother lode of mining claims, homestead, and other records from the Bureau of Land Management. Space doesn’t permit me to tell you about all the intriguing stories that live in the regions, but you can find more at <www.archives.gov/locations/regionalarchives.html>. And remember, never stop looking for your dream ancestors. Their stories may not be lost; they may be just waiting for you to find in the National Archives.