Your Family Lines Research - National Archives

National Archives & Records Administration

The National Archives is responsible for collecting and maintaining records created by Federal government agencies since the nation was founded. While the vast majority of the documents have little genealogical interest (such as Presidential speeches, patent drawings, military housing records), many of the records are invaluable to the researcher.

Many people are familiar with military service and pension records, passenger ship records, and population census records held by the National Archives. Less well known are the records of other censuses collected periodically by the government; agricultural, industrial, and mortality censuses, for example.

The National Archives also maintains myriad other Federal agency records that contain a wealth of information of interest to the genealogical researcher. They include records of:

Soldiers homes
Merchant seamen
Civilian government employees
Public lands
District of Columbia
Native Americans
Post Office Department
Military service academies
Works Progress Administration
Tennessee Valley Authority

If an individual had dealings with an agency of the Federal government at some point during his lifetime, there may be a record at the National Archives.

In addition, the National Archives has collected and maintains some records, including military service records, created by the Confederate government during the Civil War. Confederate pension records are maintained by the individual states and are not in the National Archives.

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