The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) is the repository for many of the 
historical treasures of the United States.  Besides the Declaration of Independence, the 
Constitution, and the Bill of Rights are many, many documents of our national history.
  These include materials such as military and service records for the Revolutionary War, the 
War of 1812, the Civil War, the Spanish American War, and World War I, many ships passenger 
arrival records.  Some immigration and naturalization records; records from the Freedman's 
Savings and Trust Company and other records of interest to African American researchers;
  Microfilm of the decennial Federal census records from 1790 through 1920  (minus almost all of 
1890).  Dawes Commission records and other records relating to Native American research and a 
variety of other perhaps less common documents, that may help you with your genealogical research.  
Genealogists and family historians are the most numerous of the user's of NARA's resources.
NARA has, therefore, compiled a genealogy page at their web site at 
http://www.nara.gov/genealogy.  
This contains an excellent collection of information of special interest to family history 
researchers.  These include lists of free pamphlets and publications for sale that will help you 
determine what materials exist, where they are located, in what format they can be found 
(original vs. microfilm) and how to purchase any microfilm materials that you might want to own.
  In order to access the NARA materials most efficiently, you need to know what NARA has and how 
to obtain copies. Your best starting point is at the NARA web site at http://search.nara.gov 
Here you will see tabs across the top of the web page and a click on a tab takes you to a whole 
category of information.
  The "Research Room" tab is where you want to go first.  The "Research Room" area is one of the 
genealogist's best resources for information at NARA. Did you know that there is more than one 
NARA facility?  Many people think only of the building in Washington DC. However, there are also 
13 regional NARA sites, as well as the presidential libraries.  If you visit 
http://www.nara.gov/regional/nrmenu.html
you will find a list of all the sites, a general description of the  materials held there, a Web 
address for each location with driving directions and hours, an e-mail address and a telephone 
number.  Make certain that you know the correct place to contact or to visit for the records you 
seek.  Different records are stored at different locations.
  First, "Record Groups" - To effectively locate materials held by NARA, you should understand a 
little about record groups.  Record groups are categories of like materials.  A description of 
the record group concept at NARA can be found at 
http://www.nara.gov/research/tools/rgconcpt.html 
A full category of record groups, their number, contents, and location can also be found at 
http://www.nara.gov/research/findaids/abc/part_a.html  
Please notice the underscore part of the last address.  If you take the time to review the lists 
of record groups, you will be amazed at the range of materials encompassed by the NARA holdings.
NARA has a wide array of publications describing their holdings. Check these descriptions at 
http://nara.gov.publications/pubindex.html 
A specific web page containing aids for family historians can be found at 
http://www.nara.gov/publications/genihome.html  
Most important, however, to those of us who wish to obtain copies of specific records for our 
ancestors from NARA is the web page http://www.nara.gov/research/ordering/ordrforms.html 
This page contains information about the six types of records most requested by genealogists 
and the NARA forms required to obtain copies of those records.
  The record types and forms required are:
  1.  Military service and pension records in the National Archives Building in Washington DC - 
      NATF Form 80
  2.  Military service records in the National Personnel Records Center in St Louis, MO. 
      Standard Form 180
  3.  Ship passenger arrival records - NATF Form 81  
  4.  Census records NATF Form 82
  5.  Eastern Cherokee land application records NATF Form 83
  6.  Land entry files - NATF Form 84
Information regarding how the forms can be easily obtained can also be found on this Web page
  You can request them as well by standard mail, or e-mail.  Instructions are provided on the 
Web page.  NARA also has online search facilities at its site.  Click on the "search" tab at 
the top of most screens at its Web site or enter http://search.nara.gov 
in your web browser.
  Once you understand what a record group is, you may want to try a search of NARA's online 
catalog for records of interest to you.  Here you can search both NARA's web pages and their 
Web-based databases.  Another on line search facility is NAIL (the National Archives Information 
Locator) a prototype of the database ultimately intended to contain an index of all NARA's 
holdings.  Some materials are there already, including text, maps, motion picture, sound and 
other materials.  Some of these materials have been digitized and are available as part of the 
search results, serving as examples of what is available.
Nail can be reached at http://www.nara.gov/nara/searchnail.html