Resources for Genealogists

Start Your Genealogy Research

We have arranged the Genealogy section of the web site by research topics, or types of records available to search.

From the Research Topics pages, you will find links to pages throughout the web site with articles, finding aids, and other helpful information to help you prepare for your genealogical research at the National Archives.

The records in our holdings that are most commonly used by genealogists include:

What You Can Find Online

The National Archives web site has very few actual records online. The National Archives has a very large amount of records that are useful for genealogy, but most of these records are not online. Our web site's focus is on providing research tools, such as microfilm indexes, as well as resources, such as finding aids, articles and information on where to find the records and how to access them, and how to conduct in-person research.

This doesn't mean we have no interesting or valuable records available online. Here's a list of some of our online records that might help you with genealogy.



What are some of the Genealogical Records we have online?

Note:   The National Archives has a subscription to Ancestry and Heritage Quest, which have digitized many of NARA's holdings with genealogical interest, and made them available online. There is unlimited access to these services, free-of-charge, from any NARA facility nationwide.

Resources for Genealogists >

The U.S. National Archives and Records Administration
1-86-NARA-NARA or 1-866-272-6272

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