Hi Fellow Listers: Here's some input concerning the Archives that may be of interest to you if you plan to visit there. Thanks Peggy for your response! It is greatly appreciated! Donna HELLER ZINN of Newville, Cumberland Co., PA. > Hi Donna > > I am a freelance researcher at the National Archives. I can give you and > your tour group a few more specifics about the Archives regulations so > you'll be prepared... > > You definitely need the photo I.D. to get in. Also, don't bring any > original documents with you that you might have in your collection--such as > family photos and things like that. As you leave the Archives, you will be > asked to open your briefcases or notebooks or whatever and they will be > searched. It will take a while if you have a lot of stuff to search > through, and there will be questions if you have photos and stuff. Bring > family group sheets and as little else as possible. > > The Archives has a tiny little snack bar where you could eat a bag lunch. > They have pre-made sandwiches you can buy, but they are expensive and not > very good. > > It is VERY IMPORTANT to fill out request forms for military and pension > files as soon as you get there. There is a limit of how many you can > request. You are allowed to request 4 files in each "pull". There are six > pulls each day, at 9:30, 10:30, 11:30, 1:30, 2:30, and 3:30. If you get > some requests into the 11:30 pull, for example, those won't be available to > view until a couple hours later, around 1:00. The limit of 4 files per > pull > per person applies whether they are busy or not. Therefore, there IS a > limit of 24 files per day. Since you won't arrive in time for the first > pull, and possibly not the second, either, you might have time for only 16. > If you make any requests in the last pull at 3:30, the files might not be > available by 4:30 when you leave. I suggest you prioritize your requests > if > you have a lot of them. > > As far as copying goes...bring LOTS of $1.00 bills if you want copies! The > Archives copiers use debit cards that you purchase with a $1.00 bill to > start. You can add more to the debit card, but here's the catch--the > machine is not programmed to accept any of the new money--that is, the new > $5 and $10 and $20 dollar bills. Unless you have some old faces on your > cash, you'll need lots of $1's! Copies could be as little as 15 cents, or > as much as 75 cents, depending what you're copying and what room you're > copying it in. NONE of them are 10 cents any more! Copies of census and > other microfilm in the research room are 30 cents each. > > If you have a lot of pension files that you want to copy, ask at the desk > to > sign up to reserve a bulk copier for an hour. > > Best wishes to all of you for a wonderful trip! > > Peggy Reeves > Burtonsville, MD >