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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 Order s, and federal regulations. The agency often works closely with scholars to facilitate their studies. 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 s 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. FACILITIES AND EXHIBITION National Archives Building The National Archives Building, known informally as Archives I, located north of the , the Constitution , and the Bill Of Rights , as well as a Magna Carta confirmed by Edward I in 1297 that is presented courtesy of the Perot Foundation . 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 to see individual documents (although there is a line to reach the rotunda itself) 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 The National Archives Building also exhibits other important American historical documents such as the Louisiana Purchase and the Emancipation Proclamation , as well as collections of Photography and other historically and culturally significant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. 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. archives.org - IT conference sponsors 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. 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 National Archives maintains a Nixon Presidential Materials Project at its Archives II facility in College Park, Maryland. The "Nixon Project" is currently (2007) transferring all of their materials to the newly-opened Richard Nixon Presidential Library & Museum in Yorba Linda, California. 2006 Controversy over Reclassification See Also: 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. gwu.edu (2006-04-11) Alliance with Google On to digitize and offer NARA video online for free. 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 . On 30 July 2007, the National Archives announced it would make thousands of historical films available for purchase through Amazon.com subsidiary CreateSpace (formerly CustomFlix), which specializes in on-demand distribution of DVDs, CDs and books.1 ARCHIVIST OF THE UNITED STATES The Archivist of the United States is the chief official overseeing the operation of the National Archives and Records Administration. The first Archivist, R.D.W. Connor , began serving in 1934, when the National Archive was established by Congress . The Archivists served as subordinate officials in other government agencies until the National Archives and Records Administration became an independent agency on April 1 1985 . SEE ALSO
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