# National Archives and Records Administration *Independent agency of the United States federal government responsible for federal records and the National Archives* The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) is an independent federal agency in the executive branch. It preserves and documents government and historical records and is charged with widening public access to the documents that make up the National Archives.[^1] NARA keeps and publishes the legally authentic and authoritative texts of acts of Congress, presidential directives and federal regulations. It also forwards Electoral College votes to Congress and checks Electoral College and constitutional-amendment ratification documents for prima facie legal sufficiency and an authenticating signature.[^1] Congress set up the National Archives in 1934 under the archivist of the United States, and the agency took its current form as NARA in 1985.[^1] Its neoclassical building in Washington, D.C., displays the Charters of Freedom. These include the original Declaration of Independence, the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, with the Emancipation Proclamation added in 2026.[^1] The agency describes its mission as to "preserve, protect, and share the historical records of the United States to promote public inquiry and strengthen democratic participation."[^2] The documented record also includes other outputs. In March 2006 the archivist disclosed a memorandum of understanding with other agencies under which documents were withdrawn from public access in a way researchers were unlikely to detect.[^3] In December 2019 NARA approved schedules allowing ICE to destroy detention records, and in March 2021 a federal court ruled that approval arbitrary and capricious.[^7] ## Organization In NARA's own words, its purpose is to "preserve, protect, and share the historical records of the United States to promote public inquiry and strengthen democratic participation."[^2] Its work falls under two headings: public engagement, and federal records and information management.[^2] It runs fifteen presidential libraries and museums, a Washington, D.C., museum where the Charters of Freedom are shown, and fifteen research facilities nationwide.[^2] More than 160 million records can be reached through the agency's online catalog. Those digitized items are only a small share of the more than 13 billion pages NARA holds.[^2] The archivist of the United States is the chief official in charge of the agency's operations.[^2] NARA sets federal records and information policy for executive-branch agencies, and it also keeps and provides access to records of the legislative and judicial branches.[^2] Under the Federal Records Act, executive agencies must follow records schedules that NARA has approved. Each executive-branch record has to be identified and either cleared for eventual destruction or appraised as having permanent historical or legal value.[^2] Two to three percent of the records the federal government creates are judged permanent.[^2] The Presidential Records Act requires that records of the Executive Office of the President be kept and handed to the National Archives when an administration ends.[^2] ## History The historian J. Franklin Jameson and the American Historical Association pressed for a national archive.[^3] Before one existed, each branch and agency kept its own papers, and records were frequently lost or destroyed.[^3] In 1934 Congress established the National Archives Establishment to centralize federal record-keeping under the archivist of the United States. R. D. W. Connor was the first person chosen to lead it.[^3] Following a 1949 recommendation of the first Hoover Commission, the archives were moved into the newly created [[General Services Administration]] (GSA).[^3] The Records Administration Act of 1984 separated NARA from the GSA, producing the independent agency that exists today.[^3] A fire at an offsite site in Suitland, Maryland, on December 7, 1978, destroyed more than 12.6 million feet of newsreel film.[^3] Universal Pictures had donated the reels, which were nitrate stock and highly flammable. They were kept in special vaults built to guard against fire.[^3] At a public hearing in March 2006, the archivist of the United States disclosed a memorandum of understanding between NARA and several government agencies. Under it, certain documents were to be "reclassify[ied]," meaning pulled from public access in the name of national security, in a way that researchers would be unlikely to notice. This came to be known as the U.S. reclassification program.[^3] An audit found that more than a third of the items withdrawn since 1999 contained no sensitive information. The program had been set to end in 2007.[^3] ## Records NARA sorts its holdings into "record groups," each corresponding to the department or agency that produced the records.[^4] The holdings span paper, microfilm, still photographs, motion pictures and electronic media.[^4] The National Archives Catalog holds archival descriptions of the federal government's permanent holdings in NARA custody. These cover paper records, electronic records and artifacts.[^4] In December 2012 the catalog held about 10 billion logical data records describing 527,000 artifacts and covering 81% of NARA's records, along with 922,000 digital copies of material already digitized.[^4] Because federal government works are not subject to copyright, most NARA records are in the public domain. Material that came from other sources can still be restricted by copyright or donor agreements.[^4] Executive Order 13526 tells originating agencies to declassify documents where they can before sending them to NARA for long-term storage. NARA nonetheless holds some classified records until they can be declassified.[^4] Its Information Security Oversight Office oversees and sets policy for the federal security classification system.[^4] ### Genealogical requests Genealogists and family historians make up most of NARA's users. Many records can be viewed online through the catalog, and users can also order paper copies and microfilm scans. Where relevant, the catalog lists the facility that holds a document.[^4] Census records, which begin in 1790 and often list addresses and family members' names, are among the records most often requested.[^4] ## Facilities and exhibition spaces NARA's best-known site is the National Archives Building, informally "Archives I," on Constitution Avenue north of the National Mall in Washington, D.C.[^5] Its companion facility, the National Archives at College Park ("Archives II"), opened in 1994 near the University of Maryland, College Park.[^5] The Washington National Records Center (WNRC), also in the Washington area, is a large warehouse for federal records that are still controlled by the agencies that created them. Those agencies pay an annual storage fee.[^5] Once the period set in the records schedules has passed, legal custody moves to the National Archives, and the records are usually moved to College Park. Temporary records are either kept for a fee or destroyed when their retention periods end.[^5] Elsewhere in the country NARA runs research facilities and additional federal records centers. Regional research rooms often share a site with a records center, and the records centers are closed to the public.[^5] ## Public relations ### Public–private partnerships NARA started forming public–private partnerships in 2006 to widen access to its holdings. One was a joint venture with [[Google]] to digitize NARA video and offer it online.[^6] Archivist Allen Weinstein called the pilot "an important step for the National Archives to achieve its goal of becoming an archive without walls."[^6] On January 10, 2007, NARA and Fold3.com (formerly Footnote) began a pilot project to digitize historic documents from its holdings.[^6] Weinstein said the project would "allow much greater access to approximately 4.5 million pages of important documents that are currently available only in their original format or on microfilm."[^6] In July 2007 NARA said it would sell copies of its Universal Newsreels from 1929 to 1967 through CreateSpace, a subsidiary of [[Amazon]] (Amazon.com).[^6] ## Controversies In December 2019, NARA approved records schedules covering records of [[U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement]] (ICE). The records covered detainee sexual abuse and assault, death reviews, detention monitoring, detainee escapes, detainee segregation and the Detention Information Reporting Line.[^7] Under the schedules, ICE could destroy these records once it no longer needed them for business purposes. NARA approved the schedules unchanged, although the proposals drew public outcry when they were published in the Federal Register.[^7] Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, the American Historical Association and the Society for Historians of American Foreign Relations were among the plaintiffs who sued NARA.[^7] In March 2021 a judge of the District Court for the District of Columbia ruled against NARA and held that the records had to be kept. The judge stated that "NARA's approval of the schedule was arbitrary and capricious on the grounds that NARA failed to evaluate the research value of the ICE records and that NARA failed to address significant and relevant public comments."[^7] In January 2020 a [[Washington Post]] reporter noticed that protest signs had been blurred in a photograph of the 2017 Women's March shown in the archives' public exhibit.[^7] Some of the blurred signs carried potentially offensive language, and some referred to President Donald Trump. The edits changed what some of the signs said, not only their language.[^7] NARA first defended the edits as made "so as not to engage in current political controversy." It later acknowledged it had "made a mistake" and said "we were wrong to alter the image."[^7] ## Notable thefts Robert Bradford Murphy and his wife, Elizabeth Irene Murphy, were arrested in 1963 and sentenced to ten years in prison for taking documents from several federal depositories, the National Archives among them.[^8] The documents came from files of the Department of Justice, the War and Navy departments, and the [[Bureau of Indian Affairs]].[^8] Charles Merrill Mount was arrested in 1987 and received a five-year federal prison sentence for stealing 400 National Archives documents. Among them were three letters signed by [[Abraham Lincoln]], and many of the items had been kept in his safety deposit box.[^8] Shawn Aubitz, a National Archives curator, pleaded guilty in 2002 to stealing dozens of documents and photographs during the 1990s. He was caught after offering stolen presidential pardons for sale on eBay.[^8] He received 21 months in federal prison and was ordered to pay $73,000 in restitution.[^8] In 2005 Sandy Berger, formerly national security advisor to President Bill Clinton, was charged with unauthorized removal of documents from the National Archives. The documents included records from the commission reviewing the Clinton administration's handling of the 2000 millennium plots.[^8] He was sentenced to 100 hours of community service and fined $50,000, and he was de-barred and lost his security clearance.[^8] Also in 2005, Howard Harner received two years in prison and a $10,000 fine for stealing 100 National Archives documents. These included papers signed by Robert E. Lee, Jefferson Davis, Ulysses S. Grant and George Custer. Harner admitted cutting off signatures to sell them separately.[^8] ## Notes [^1]: Wikipedia contributors, *National Archives and Records Administration* (revision 1378224007, retrieved 2026-10-26) — lead section: status, functions, 1934 establishment, 1985 reorganization, Charters of Freedom. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Archives_and_Records_Administration [^2]: Wikipedia contributors, *National Archives and Records Administration* (revision 1378224007, retrieved 2026-10-26) — "Organization" section: mission statement, functions, facilities count, holdings, Federal Records Act and Presidential Records Act duties. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Archives_and_Records_Administration [^3]: Wikipedia contributors, *National Archives and Records Administration* (revision 1378224007, retrieved 2026-10-26) — "History" section: founding, GSA placement and independence, 1978 Suitland fire, 2006 reclassification disclosure and audit. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Archives_and_Records_Administration [^4]: Wikipedia contributors, *National Archives and Records Administration* (revision 1378224007, retrieved 2026-10-26) — "Records" section: record groups, 2012 catalog figures, copyright, Executive Order 13526, genealogical requests. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Archives_and_Records_Administration [^5]: Wikipedia contributors, *National Archives and Records Administration* (revision 1378224007, retrieved 2026-10-26) — "Facilities and exhibition spaces" section: Archives I and II, WNRC, federal records centers. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Archives_and_Records_Administration [^6]: Wikipedia contributors, *National Archives and Records Administration* (revision 1378224007, retrieved 2026-10-26) — "Public relations" section: 2006–2007 partnerships with Google, Fold3.com and CreateSpace; Weinstein statements. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Archives_and_Records_Administration [^7]: Wikipedia contributors, *National Archives and Records Administration* (revision 1378224007, retrieved 2026-10-26) — "Controversies" section: December 2019 ICE schedules, March 2021 District Court ruling, January 2020 Women's March image edits. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Archives_and_Records_Administration [^8]: Wikipedia contributors, *National Archives and Records Administration* (revision 1378224007, retrieved 2026-10-26) — "Notable thefts" section: 1963, 1987, 2002 and 2005 cases and sentences. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Archives_and_Records_Administration