PHILLY-ROOTS-L Archives

From:
Subject: NARA-DC
Date: Sat, 5 Jun 2004 23:07:48 EDT

I just spent 3 days researching at NARA in Washington, DC and wanted to
comment on a policy change. Microfilm and fiche are available during all the hours
they are open, but actual records are not. In the past, one could order 4
records at a time, 6 times a day (a total of 24 records a day), the last time
being at 3:30 pm. It took 1 to 1 1/2 hours to get the records, which naturally
conflicted with the next time one could order records. Also, the records were
ordered on one floor, and accessed on another. In short: Chaos!

Since my last trip in November, the policy seems to have changed. You can
still order up to 24 records a day, but you can now order them all at one time
and they are brought out as they are found, i.e. not every few hours. In fact,
you can even order the day before you want to access the records. I ordered 23
records one day at 3:30 and they were all available at 10:30 the next morning.

Another note: In addition to Civil War pension and service records, there is
another index. It's by company and regiment, then the people are listed
alphabetically.

Merle

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