Research Our Records

Independent Researchers for Hire - Media Types

Researchers Specializing in Cartographic and Architectural Records*

Note: To ensure fairness, this list displays in random order each time it is viewed.
Be sure to view the entire list.

Jeremy Bigwood
Archival Research
3200 16th Street NW #806
Washington, DC 20010-3348
Telephone: (202) 361-5000
Fax:
E-mail: JeremyBigwood@pm.me
Research Specialty: All records, all formats, all gov’t agencies. Research projects big and small. Latest copying equipment. Client downloads high-quality images or text-recognized PDFs from Dropbox. Lives close by. Over 25 years of research at NARA and over 30 years of using FOIA/MDR to obtain records.
About: Award-winning investigator in historical research, journalism, and science who works with academics, authors, and journalists worldwide to research their projects. Languages: English, Spanish, Ukrainian, Russian - some French and German. Google for publications.

Dr. Jason H. Gart, Vice President
History Associates Incorporated (HAI)
7361 Calhoun Place, Suite 310
Rockville, MD 20855
Telephone: (301) 279-9697
Fax: (301) 279-9224
E-mail: jgart@historyassociates.com
Research Specialty:
About: Founded in 1981, HAI is a historical research and analysis consultancy with expertise spanning multiple subject matters and topics. We have successfully completed over 1,400 litigation related research investigations and employ 50+ historians and archivists.

Richard Kroll
Richard Kroll Research
39 Main Street
Nyack, NY 10960
Telephone: 917-697-0371
Fax:
E-mail: krollresearch@yahoo.com
Research Specialty: Video, photo, film, illustrations, cartographic, architectural, archival info.
About:

Dirk Burgdorf
AAA Research
21515 Manor View Cir
Germantown, MD 20876
Telephone: (301) 922-9610
E-mail: contact@naraexpert.com
Research Specialty: Specialist in Aerial Imagery and Maps (both U.S. and foreign), American Military Records, Captured German Records (SS, Wehrmacht, NSDAP, War Diaries), and German technical Manuals.
About: 30+ years of historical research experience, complete fluency in German, partnered with specialists in both Russian and Germany. First hand experience from personal visits to battlefields on both the Eastern and Western Fronts.

Kevin Morrow
Ab Initio Archives Research, LLC
1201 N. Kensington Street, Apt. 4
Arlington, VA 22205
Telephone: (703) 439-8789
Fax:
E-mail: morrow.kevin@gmail.com
Research Specialty: Specializing in textual military and federal contractor records related to environmental remediation cases involving hazardous chemicals, asbestos, etc.; academic research concentrating on all branches of the military (World War I through Vietnam); diplomacy and intelligence (OSS, State Department, Army and Navy Intelligence); Native American claims; captured German records; veterans’ concerns (medals, action reports, deck logs, muster rolls); photos (all military and civilian); aerial photos; maps (all military and civilian).
About: Independent historian/researcher. Former National Archives employee. Conversant in German and French; some Arabic, Italian, Spanish

Asher Groeschler
904 Lamberton Drive
Silver Spring, MD 20902
Telephone: (305) 746-1586
Fax:
E-mail: ashergroeschler@gmail.com
Research Specialty: US History, science, and technology. Any general records in textual, cartographic, photographs and newspapers.
About: I also do research at any facility located in Washington D.C. such as the Library of Congress.

Dana L. Alexander
Evidence of Title
758 Ohio Street
Alliance, OH 44601
Telephone: (330) 428-2267
Fax: (330) 829-0534
E-mail: evidenceoftitle@outlook.com
Research Specialty: ICC Railroad valuation maps and property records
About:

Ryan M. Curtis
Archive Research & Consulting Group, LLC
133 Main Street, Suite 203
Epping, NH 03042
Telephone: (603) 433-9000
Fax:
E-mail: rcurtis@ArchiveResearch.org
Research Specialty: Asbestos Litigation - Navy & Maritime Records
About: More than 15 years of research experience with an understanding of the ways asbestos was used on Navy/Maritime ships. We have researchers at the Archives every day to meet your needs.

Katie Rasdorf
4393 Kevin Walker Dr 228
Montclair, VA 22025
Telephone: (202) 498-4447
Fax: (703) 656-4851
E-mail: krasdorf@yahoo.com
Research Specialty: Modern military records; Genealogy; WWII; Korea; Vietnam; Cold War, Prisoners of War (POW); Missing in Action (MIA); Aerial imagery, cartography, still photos

Susan E. Stone
9210 Bessie Clemson Rd.
Union Bridge, MD 21791
Telephone: (240) 274-6661
Fax:
E-mail: susan.stone2712@att.net
Research Specialty: RG134: Railroad Valuation Maps, RG 49: Railroad Right-of-Way Maps; RG 21: Railroad Property Transfer; Textual Land Schedules (DV-107); Aerial Imagery, Maps, and Still Pictures.
About: 19+ years at NARA. Specialized in research & reproduction of Val Maps, Aerial Negatives Scanning and Still Pictures.

Mark Leutbecker
Associates at Nicklason Research
2217 N Harrison St
Arlington, VA 22205
Telephone: (703) 946-7146
Fax: (703)536-5180
E-mail: mleutbecker@nicklason.com
Research Specialty: African-American History; Congressional Records; Court Records (Supreme Court, Court of Claims); Coast Guard/Lighthouse/Custom Records; Labor & Business History/Transportation/Regulatory Agencies; Military-Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, National Guard, Veterans (Civil, WWI, WWII, Korea, Vietnam); Native American History; Science, Technology, Natural Resources and Environmental clean-up (CERCLA, FUDS, PRP, MMRP); State Department. Land Use, Water Rights, Mining, Forests. Textual, Cartographic, Photographs, Newspapers.
About: 40 years experience researching. Also does research at the Library of Congress, Smithsonian, and other repositories.

Mike Constandy
Deck Logs
PO Box 320488
Alexandria, VA 22320-980
Telephone: (202) 421-5151
Fax: (703) 768-6609
E-mail: mjc@westmorelandresearch.org; mconstandy@gmail.com
Research Specialty: Naval and maritime research for law firms in defense of toxic tort claims, asbestos, admiralty, ships logs and plans, and sea lane and terrestrial UXO. Environmental investigation and remediation. Legal, Congressional, diplomatics, and commercial research. US Army, Navy, Coast Guard, OSS, allied and captured German records to include textual, still imagery, cartographic, and aerial research.
About: More than 30 years experience at NARA. Extensive field research on behalf of the US and foreign governments and an admitted professional researcher at more than 30 institutions worldwide.

Margaret Johnson
MMJ Research
3200 Garfield St NW
Washington, DC 20008-3513
Telephone: (202) 669-7479
E-mail: mmj@erols.com
Research Specialty: Still picture research including photographs, cartographic records, microfilm, manuscripts, civilian and military textual records, and Presidential records.
About: 25+ years experience.

Yoko Nagasaka Myers
Nichimy Corporation
9658 Baltimore Avenue, Suite 300
College Park, MD 20740
Telephone: (301) 531-4677 / (301) 512-1840
Fax:
E-mail: nichimyusa@nichimy.co.jp
Research Specialty: WWII Pacific Theater military and navy records (text, photographs, motion picture, cartographic) and Allied Occupation of Japan, Japanese Koreans in Japan, Okinawa - related issues, U.S.-Japan Relations, migration, and others.
About:

Susan Strange
Strange Research
PO Box 7165
McLean, VA 22106-7165
Telephone: (202) 320-2672
E-mail: strangeresearch@mac.com
Research Specialty: Motion pictures, still photographs and textual records - all subjects.
About: Full time on site research.

John Cloud
Cloud Research
1915 Kalorama Rd NW 603
Washington, DC 20009
Telephone: (202) 277-4931
Fax:
E-mail: john.cloud666@gmail.com
Research Specialty: Records and especially cartography for all federal scientific agencies, and especially for records of the Coast & Geodetic Survey (RG 23) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (RG 310); records concerning American Indians (RG 29, 75, 77, 287); Railroad records (RG 21, 134); Navy Deck Logs, maps, and related records of the Hydrographic Office (RG 37); and records related to historic and current environmental science.
About: PhD. in Geography, UC Santa Barbara, with dissertation on the declassified CORONA reconnaissance satellite program; NOAA historian for 12 years; Contributor to the History of Cartography Project, Vol. 5 (19th C.) and Vol. 6 (20th C.); currently Research Associate, Arctic Studies Center, Anthropology Dept., Smithsonian Institution. Available for research in other archives, especially the Library of Congress, where I am a Kluge Fellow, and the collections and archives of the Smithsonian Institution.

Mike Constandy
Westmoreland Research
PO Box 320488
Alexandria, VA 22320-9804
Telephone: (202) 421-5151
Fax: (703) 317-1709
E-mail: mjc@westmorelandresearch.org; mconstandy@gmail.com
Research Specialty: Naval and maritime research for law firms in defense of toxic tort claims, asbestos, admiralty, ships logs and plans, and sea lane and terrestrial UXO. Environmental investigation and remediation. Legal, Congressional, diplomatics, and commercial research. US Army, Navy, Coast Guard, OSS, allied and captured German records to include textual, still imagery, cartographic, and aerial research.
About: More than 30 years experience at NARA. Extensive field research on behalf of the US and foreign governments and an admitted professional researcher at more than 30 institutions worldwide.

Elisa E. McConnell
Direct Archives Solutions, LLC
5333 Connecticut Ave., NW Apt. 820
Washington, DC 20015
Telephone: (202) 507-1309
Fax:
E-mail: directarchivessolutions@gmail.com
Research Specialty: Specialize in aerial images scans from NARA Cartographic collection; Cartographic research, aerial negatives and GX prints; Rail Road Valuation Maps; Military Records; Textual Records; Stills Pictures: RG-185-Panama Canal Zone.
About: On-site; 17+ years experience, fluent in Spanish.

Joseph P. Harris
Absolutely Archives
PO Box 922
Greenbelt, MD 20768-0922
Telephone: (703) 967-3070
Fax: (301) 474-8290
E-mail: info@absolutelyarchives.com
Research Specialty: Motion Pictures, Still Pictures, Sound Recordings, Video Recordings, Textual, Cartographic
About: Full-time, onsite researcher; former NARA staff; 25+ years of experience.

Elizabeth K. Gray
Elizabeth Katheryn Gray

,
Telephone: (301) 767-2167
Fax:
E-mail: cavepearl@hotmail.com
Research Specialty: Civilian Textual Records (ALL), Cartographic (ALL), Railroads & ICC (RG 134), Ship Plans (RG 19, 26, 71), State Department including Central Decimal & Subject Numeric File (RG 59), State Dept. Geneology, Alien Enemy Files (Internment Records), DOJ and FBI (RG 60 & 65), Provost Marshall (RG 389), Lighthouses (RG 26), Aerial Records (RG 114, 145, 373), General Land Office Records RG 49, 77, 75, &92, Foreign Claims Commission (RG 299).
About:

Vicki Killian
Vicki Killian, Nicklason Research Associates
5 Cleveland Ave
Takoma Park, MD 20912-4123
Telephone: (301) 588-0456
Fax:
E-mail: vkillian@nicklason.com
Research Specialty: Native American history, Natural Resources use (Land, Water, Agriculture, Mining, Forestry), Military (Army, Navy, USAF, Marine Corps, National Guard, Coast Guard), Environmental clean-up (Superfund, FUDS, MNRP, PRP), Holocaust, Japanese Internment, New Deal (CCC, CWA, FERA, NYA, PWA, WPA), Courts (Supreme Court, Court of Claims), Congressional, Labor, Business, Lighthouse, Transportation, and State Department records. Textual, Maps, Photographs, Newspapers.
About: 35 years research experience. Also does research at the Library of Congress, Smithsonian Institution, US Holocaust Memorial Museum, and other repositories.

Sim Smiley
Archival Historical Research

Washington, DC 20016
Telephone: (202) 812-8466
Fax:
E-mail: sim.smiley@gmail.com
Research Specialty: World War II Intelligence and Diplomatic Records: the Office of Strategic Services (RG 226), the Department of State (RG 59 and 84), USIA (RG 306), The Office of War Information (RG 208) Military Records in general. Textual, Photographs and Maps.
About: I have over 30 years’ experience as a former NARA volunteer (compiled some of the OSS finding aids) and researcher for OSS agents and clients worldwide. A diplomatic simultaneous interpreter by training, I can read, speak and write in French, Italian and can easily read Spanish, Portuguese, Swedish and Norwegian.

Bruce D. Frail; Benjamin J. Frail D.B.A
American Civil War Ancestor
19 Briar Point Ave
Coventry, RI 02816
Telephone: (401) 464-2119
Fax:
E-mail: acwresearchgroup@gmail.com
Research Specialty: Military Service, Pensions, Deck Logs, Veteran Burial Locations, African-American, Navy, and general research of the American Civil War
About: We have 50+ years of professional and volunteer research experience, 20+ years at NARA and 18+ years in Graves Registration.

Shannon Bridget Murphy

Herndon, VA 20171
Telephone: (703) 864-3099
Fax:
E-mail: shannoninpapertrails@yahoo.com
Research Specialty: Captured German Records; Art Provenance: Cold War; Congressional Records; State Department Records; General Government Records, Family History; Immigration and Naturalization; Military Records - Military record searches, including lineage applications; Natural Resources and Environmental Records; Motion Pictures and Audio-Silent films; Photo Stills and Video Recordings; Photographs and Pictures
About: Acknowledged for research in ’From Arromanches to the Elbe’, by Charles More, published by Pen and Sword Publishing for research.

Joan M. Mathys
MJM Picture and Film Research
2801 Quebec St NW 222
Washington, DC 20008-1242
Telephone: (202) 537-3256
Fax: (202) 966-5816
E-mail: joanmathys@msn.com
Research Specialty: Motion Picture (moving images) and sound (audio recordings); Still Picture and Graphics; Textual materials; Cartographic materials

John Taylor
Taylor Research Group LLC - A Litigation and Environmental Research Firm
3333 Connecticut Ave NW Ste 3
Washington, DC 20008
Telephone: (703) 822-4658
Fax:
E-mail: johntaylor@taylorresearchgroup.com
Research Specialty: Environmental and Legal Research; Asbestos; Captured German Records; Cold War; Congressional Records; Court Records; Diplomatic Records; Immigration, Emigration & Naturalization; Labor & Business History; Military Records; Native American Relations Records; Navy Records; President Nixon Records; Science, Technology, Natural Resources and the Environment Records; Audio/Sound Recordings; Cartographic/Architectural/Ships Plans Records; Film & Video Recordings; Photographs and Pictures
About:

Michelle Pointon
National Air Survey Center dba as Time Frames
5 Xebec Road
Palmyra, VA 22963
Telephone: (301) 935-6012; (434) 326-3277
Fax:
E-mail: nasccinfo@aol.com
Research Specialty: NASC dba Time Frames is a small woman owned, full service photo finishing business, established in 1973 to provide aerial, cartographic, still picture, and textual research and photo finishing services, both traditional film and digital.
About: All our employees have over 35 or more years of working with archival records for both local and international governments, museums, publishers, and commercial clients. We also provide large volume archiving, museum quality framing, custom photographic printing, graphic design and exhibits.


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*Note:   Researchers for hire are not NARA employees. Any individual or company that does research in our holdings on behalf of others is free
to join the listing. For information on how to get on the Independent Researchers for Hire lists,
see the Opportunity for Independent Researchers page.

Inclusion on the independent researcher lists should not be viewed as an endorsement of the
quality of the researchers' work, and NARA will not be responsible for any arrangement made
with independent researchers. Such arrangements, including the character, extent, and cost
of the work, are purely private, contractual matters between the independent researcher
and you. It also is up to you to determine whether or not the researcher's experience
and qualifications meet your needs. Comments or complaints received by NARA regarding
any individual independent researcher on the listing will be forwarded to that researcher
for resolution.

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