National Archives at College Park

This is the central repository of Untied States federal government department records, notably those of the State Department.

Address
8601 Adelphi Road, College Park, MD 20740-6001

Website
http://www.archives.gov/dc-metro/college-park/

Telephone
301-837-2000, or Customer Service Center: 1-866-272-6272

Email
Contact via this link.

Schedule & hours
Monday - Friday, 9:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. Extended hours on evenings and Saturdays once a month--check the website.

Working language(s)
English

Layout
The entrance to the archive, its security desk, registration, and cafeteria are on the ground floor. Lockers are in the basement, and the reading room is on the second floor. The reading room contains a few computer terminals, as well as a glassed-in room containing catalogues. More detailed catalogues can be had in archivists' offices (2600 for the State Department) to the north of the reading room (an escort is required). The microfilm reading room is on the third floor. Most storerooms are on-site.

Directions
Public transportation and driving directions can be found here. Public transport access is functional, but less than convenient. A free shuttle bus from the National Archives in DC can be convenient, if you are staying near downtown.

Description of holdings
(a more extensive description (qualitative and/or quantitative) of the holdings and the state in which they are kept)

History of the archive
Materials were moved to the new College Park building in the early 1990s.

Catalogues & finding aids
Finding aids at the College Park archives tend to be primitive: shelf after shelf of second-generation photocopied lists, many offering only general descriptions of holdings. It is almost always necessary to enlist an archivist or two in order to cover the bases, and many of the archivists are very helpful. A breakdown of holdings by Record Group and size is here. The National Archives is beginning to experiment with an online catalogue called the Archival Research Catalog (ARC).

Languages of materials
English, with some foreign languages in State Department records

Inaccessible material
Cataloguing is inconsistent, so it can be difficult to ascertain the state of collections. Archivists have been known to escort researchers into the stacks in order to look for obscure material.

Future of the archive
(what direction is the archive going? what rumours have you heard?)

Access
A passport or other official document will win you access, and you can register on the spot.

First visit
After you pass a series of security protocols, you register and receive a reader's card, with which you can enter the reading rooms. Go to the basement to store your bags, then head in.

Permitted and prohibited items

 * Permitted: laptop computers, cameras, certain scanners (details)
 * Prohibited: ink pens

Document ordering

 * When ordering documents, you must give two kinds of information. The first kind, a description and identification number, is straightforward enough.  The second kind, description of where the material is located in the storage room, is less transparent.  This information is expressed by a series of numbers and slashes, in this form: Record Group (RG)/Row/Compartment/Shelf/Box or Volume.  "Row" is the name for the big sliding shelf unit in the stacks.  Each column within a Row is called a "Compartment."  Each Compartment contains five or six shelves, and the workers appreciate it if you can specify the shelf number.  Then on the shelf are the boxes or volumes arranged in numeric order.  So the whole line of numbers above the “record identification” box on the order slips serves to help them get to the right shelf.  They then depend on the material in the record id.
 * Records are pulled four times per day (10 and 11 a.m., 1:30 and 2:30 p.m.); submit your orders by beforehand.

Ordering classified material
(what special permission is necessary?)

Document delivery
(how long does it take for documents to arrive? where are they delivered?  how many can you consult at a time?  what do you do when you are finished with an item?)

Photocopying, photography, microfilming
(what are costs, permits, and page limits? how long do you have to wait?)

Key forms
(what are the main forms that the archive uses? if possible, provide links to copies or post copies directly)

Archive staff
In the main research room, where you order documents, Ed is the guy who knows what he’s doing. Sally Kuisel, the #2 state department archivist, is well informed.

Scholars
(scholars who are familiar with this archive)

Food
The on-site cafeteria will, in concert with the security protocols, supplement the education of foreign researchers into things American. Microwaves and vending machines also available. The archives are rather isolated from other sources of food.

Lockers
Lockers are in the basement.

Internet access
There are some internet terminals in the main reading room.

Bookstore
There is a small bookstore on-site, selling certain catalogues and archive-related materials.