A little more about the National Archives. The main building where someone mentioned 19 floors in an 8 story building has two basic parts. The public part towards that Mall which has been and is being upgraded. The back part of the building which has antique record keeping is about to undergo major restoration. Keep in mind too that the backup or annex facility in the MD suburbs of Washington is a modern facilty.. Lew ----- Original Message ----- From: "Cole Goodwin" <cole_goodwin@hotmail.com> To: <PABRADFO-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Monday, May 08, 2000 2:32 PM Subject: Re: [PABRADFO] National Archives experience (Online NARA images and documents) > Dear Laura, > > You have eloquently described both the blessings and the trials of using the > National Archives. Some staff are very conscientious and appear to work > there for noble reasons, others less so. They do appear bound by procedures > and technologies which are somewhat dated. Yet, inspite of these > shortcomings, the National Archives holds many of the dearest treasures our > nation--and of our family associations. > > One thing researchers who are interested in using the National Archives > should do before going is to visit their excellent web site. This can be > reached from the following URL: > > The National Archives > http://www.nara.gov > > Perhaps one of the best initiatives of the National Archives is its posting > of indexes and digitized images onto its website and the developing of an > intelligent agent to search them. The online service is known as the > National Archives Information Locator, or NAIL. You can reach it from the > following URL: > > National Archives Information Locator > http://www.nara.gov/nara/nail.html > > From this point, you should click either the "Search for Archival Holdings" > button or the "Search for Microfilm HOldings" button. > > Here is an example how the online NARA service works: > > If you will use the "Search for Archival Holdings" link, then select, > "Standard Search," and then put the search term "Towanda" in the blank > field, NAIL will provide you with six hits. One of them is for a If you > will click on that, you will find a photograph entitled, "German War Crimes > Trials. Nuernberg & Dachau". If you will click on that, you will be brought > to a page with a photograph of PFC Joseph L. Pichierre, of Towanda, Penn., > with the 18th Regt., 1st Inf. Div. Germany. 11/24/45 guarding Nazi war > criminal Rudolph Hess. > > If you would like, you can even obtain a higher resolution copy of this > photograph of PFC Pichierre. > > All of this is provided to save researchers the time and expense of > travelling to Washington, D.C. to obtain the photographs and documents they > so dearly want. > > To date, about 125,000 photographs and documents have been put online and it > is the National Archives ultimate objective to eventually put all online, as > funding allows. > > I hope all of you will avail yourselves of this excellent online resource > after checking the Tri-Counties site for the surnames and information you > seek. > > Sincerely, > > Cole Goodwin > Washington, D.C. > > > > >From: LWA101@aol.com > >To: PABRADFO-L@rootsweb.com > >Subject: [PABRADFO] National Archives experience > >Date: Mon, 8 May 2000 13:35:17 EDT > > > >Since folks may be planning to visit National Archives in D.C. this > >summer,I > >thought I'd share my experience. First, the folks are nice and our > >Archives > >are truly a national treasure.There are at least 19 floors and zillions of > >records. You have to respect the staff's ability to ferret out one man's or > >woman's records from so many and show it to you. > > > >Secondly, the staff have in many cases inherited poor procedures and things > >are in a kind of gridlock. Plan to spend way longer than you thought > >looking > >for records. > > > >Third, even though Archives is open on Saturdays, ARCHIVES DOES NOT PULL > >ANY > >RECORDS ON SATURDAYS. On Saturdays, you can use the Research Room's > >microfilm > >readers for indexes, census, etc. But if what you're hunting isn't on > >microfilm--it can't be pulled on Saturdays. And if you cna't make out the > >microfilm, the original documents can't be pulled on Saturdays. You can put > >in request on Saturdays;they'll pull the records the next Monday. > > > >If you are looking for Civil War Pennsylvania Union Soldiers files, these > >are > >NOT on microfilm, and you can't see them on Saturdays. You have to turn in > >the request in person, so you have to go on a weekday, or have a friend go. > > > >I had called ahead and had been assured I could request and view these > >records on Saturday, so I drove 5 1/2-hours one way only to have shrugged > >shoulders and to be told "you should have called ahead." > > > >Just because a National Archives employee on the phone says you can see > >records doesn't mean it's true. Suggestion: if you plan to visit Archives, > >call the Research Room during the week, request to speak to a Research Room > >supervisor, tell her/him exactly what you're trying to learn, and ask on > >which days the information can be pulled and on which days you can view it. > > > >Bottom line: If you can't go to NARA on a weekday, you may not be able to > >see > >the files you want. > > > >Also, the Research Room will hold pulled files for three days. If they get > >sent back, it could be UP TO TWO MONTHS BEFORE THEY ARE REFILED. > > > >How about those mail-in Form 80s? The chief of that section called me > >today. > >She has a staff of 15 handling 12,000 requests a week. She has just worked > >everyone two weeks of intense overtime, and they're down to a six-week > >turnaround (they are currently working April requests). > > > >They can't check status on any Form 80s because their computer system is > >being migrated. This has been the situation for several weeks. > > > >By the way, if you're planning to go to Archives in person, don't send a > >mail-in Form 80 request. If the file gets pulled by the mail-in group, the > >Research Room group won't be able to find it. > > > >Hope this helps some of you avoid the disappointment I've found. > > > >Cole, I know you can add some advice to this for summer travelers. > > > >Happy hunting, y'all. Cheers, Laura > > > > > > > > > > > > > > ________________________________________________________________________ > Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com > >