National Archives and Records Administration
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The United States National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) is an independent agency of the United States federal government charged with preserving and documenting government and historical records. It is also charged with increasing public access to those documents. NARA is officially responsible for publishing acts of Congress, presidential proclamations and executive orders, and federal regulations. The agency often works closely with scholars to facilitate their studies.
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[edit] History
Originally, each branch and agency of the U.S. government was responsible for maintaining its own documents, which often resulted in the loss and destruction of records. Congress established the National Archives Establishment in 1934 to centralize federal record keeping, with the Archivist of the United States as its chief administrator. The National Archives was incorporated into the General Services Administration in 1949, but, in 1985, it was made an independent agency as NARA.
Most of the documents in the care of NARA are in the public domain, as works of the federal government are excluded from copyright protection. However, some documents that have come into the care of NARA from other sources may still be protected by copyright or donor agreements.[1] NARA also stores classified documents and its Information Security Oversight Office monitors and sets policy for the U.S. government's security classification system.
NARA's holdings are classified into "record groups" reflecting the governmental department or agency from which they originated. The records including paper records, microfilmed records, still pictures, motion pictures, and electronic media.
Many of NARA's most requested records are frequently used for research in genealogy. This includes census records from 1790 to 1930 as well as ship passenger lists and naturalization records.
[edit] Facilities and exhibition
[edit] National Archives Building
The National Archives Building, known informally as Archives I, located north of the National Mall on Constitution Avenue in Washington, DC, opened as its original headquarters in 1935. It holds the original copies of the three main formative documents of the United States and its government: the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights, as well as a copy of the 1297 issue of Magna Carta. These are displayed to the public in the main chamber of the National Archives, which is called the Rotunda for the Charters of Freedom. Flash photography of the documents is prohibited, because the flashes can over time fade out the documents. There are no lines at the National Archives, and visitors are allowed to walk from document to document as they wish.
The National Archives Building also exhibits other important American historical documents such as the Louisiana Purchase and the Emancipation Proclamation, as well as collections of photography and other historically and culturally significant American artifacts.
[edit] National Archives at College Park
Due to space constraints, NARA opened a second facility, known informally as Archives II, in 1994 on the University of Maryland, College Park campus. The two institutions engage in multiple initiatives.[2]
[edit] Regional facilities
There are also twelve (12) Regional Archives facilities across the country and two major facilities in St. Louis, Missouri which comprise the National Personnel Records Center. However, the National Archives Building in downtown Washington still contains such record collections as all existing Federal Census records, Ship Passenger Lists, military unit records from the American Revolution up to the Philippine-American War, records of the Confederate Government, the Freedmen's Bureau records and pension/land records.
[edit] Presidential Libraries
NARA also maintains the Presidential Library system, a nationwide network of libraries for preserving and making available the documents of U.S. presidents since Herbert Hoover. The Presidential Libraries include the Herbert Hoover Presidential Library in West Branch, Iowa; the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library in Hyde Park, New York; the Harry S. Truman Presidential Library in Independence, Missouri; the Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library in Abilene, Kansas; the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library in Boston, Massachusetts; the Lyndon B. Johnson Presidential Library in Austin, Texas; the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library in Ann Arbor, Michigan; the Jimmy Carter Presidential Library in Atlanta, Georgia; the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California; the George Bush Presidential Library in College Station, Texas; and the William J. Clinton Presidential Library in Little Rock, Arkansas.
The Richard Nixon Library has historically been privately operated, although plans are underway to integrate it into the Presidential Library system in the future. The National Archives maintains a Nixon Presidency Material Project at its College Park, Maryland facility.
[edit] 2006 Controversy over Reclassification
- Main article: U.S. reclassification program
In March 2006, it was revealed by the Archivist of the United States in a public hearing that a memorandum of understanding between NARA and various government agencies existed to "reclassify", i.e withdraw from public access, certain documents in the name of national security, and to do so in a manner such that researchers would not be likely to discover the process.[3]
[edit] Alliance with Google
On 24 February 2006, NARA released a press release announcing a joint venture with Google to digitize and offer NARA video online for free.
[edit] Other Partnerships
On 10 January 2007, the National Archives and Footnote launched a project to digitize historic documents and provide them online, read the press release.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
[edit] External links
- NARA official site
- Outdoor sculpture at the National Archives building
- NARA on Footnote.com
- NARA on Google Video
Categories: John Russell Pope | Libraries in Washington, D.C. | Museums in Washington, D.C. | National Archives and Records Administration | Registered Historic Places in Maryland | Registered Historic Places in the District of Columbia | University of Maryland, College Park affiliates | Archives in the United States | Rotundas
