I would like to share my good experience with the DC Archives. In Washington last summer, I managed to visit the Archives several times. The building is a former warehouse or perhaps stable, tucked away in an alley-like street. It was hot, and the air conditioning was only semi-functional; I don't know how the heat is! The small staff was friendly and helpful, but you do most of the work yourself. They have two old microfilm readers that are somewhat hard to control, so that I found it easier just to go through the boxes or books directly if I had a vague idea of when the marriage, death, or birth took place. The boxes are on shelves nearly to the ceiling, so be prepared to push around and climb the movable steps. You can pull down the box you want and rifle through it. I found it somewhat amazing that I had such access to original records and documents, and I was very careful to replace everything as I had found it. You can make copies of documents for free. There is limited work space, only a couple of tables, but there were at most two other people there when I went, and sometimes I was the only "customer." I had a great sense of discovery and freedom there and found a lot of birth and death certificates that considerably advanced my family research. I might never have learned that great uncle Frank was murdered in 1907 if I hadn't found his death certificate. From it, I went online to Ancestry's Washington Post images and learned the whole fascinating, if sordid, story. In short, the Archives are a terrifc resource. I know I only managed to scratch the surface in my brief time there. Polly Zashin