All National Archives research rooms will be closed on May 27, for Memorial Day. Museums in Washington, DC, and at the Presidential Libraries will be open.
View all Federal Holidays.

Please note: Research and exhibit hours will be reduced as of March 16.
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The Online Public Access (OPA) system will be down for maintenance from May 10 to May 25. We are in the process of rolling out a new version of OPA that will bring the catalog up to date.

You may wish to use the Archival Research Catalog (ARC) for your research during this period of downtime. The descriptions or catalog records will be available in ARC, although all digital images in ARC will be unavailable during this period. Please check back in OPA after May 23rd!

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The National Archives and Fold3.com (formerly Footnote) are working as partners to bring unprecedented access to selections of the vast holdings of the National Archives. Visit us and access these documents free of charge. Learn More
Search for microfilm online. Get a full description, download descriptive pamphlets and roll lists, and/or purchase rolls.

What's New for Researchers

Federal military pension applications files for military service from the American Revolution up to before World War I.
Individual pages of Federal population census schedules, 1790-1930.
Land entry files (such as credit, cash, homestead, and mineral) or surrendered military bounty-land warrants files (Acts of 1788, 1812, 1847, 1850, and 1855).
Bounty-land warrant application files for Federal military service before 1856.
Ship passenger arrival records, 1820-1959.
Eastern Cherokee application records, 1906-1909.
Compiled military service records for regular forces up to before World War I.

Use the Access to Archival Databases (AAD) system to search some of NARA's electronic records holdings.