If you ever needed inspiration for a visit to the National Archives, taking a look at the new edition of the Guide to Federal Records in the National Archives of the United States* would definitely provide it. The Guide is a comprehensive listing and description of federal records found in the National Archives in Washington as well as its other affiliated repositories such as the regional archives and the Presidential libraries. The long-awaited new edition was published in 1995 and supersedes the 1974 edition and its 1987 reprint. Expanded to three volumes, Volumes 1 and 2 contain the record descriptions while Volume 3 is the index. It includes descriptions of records held as of September 1, 1994.

To make effective use of the Guide, it is important to understand the “record group” concept. Many archives, including the National Archives, keep records together by issuing agency. Thus each agency or department is assigned a record group number, which becomes the identifying number for the agency’s records. This is the key to using the records at the archives and to finding information in the book. The Guide devotes one chapter to each record group and uses references to the record group number in place of page numbers. If you don’t already know the record group number you need, look up your subject of interest in the alphabetical index (Volume 3) or browse the list of agencies in Table B following the introduction in Volume 1. You may notice gaps in the record group numbers and consequently in the chapter numbers. If a record group number was assigned but records had not been transferred prior to publication of the Guide, that number does not have a chapter. Also, some record group numbers are no longer in use and so do not have chapters.

The layout of each chapter includes a chapter heading, the administrative history of the agency, a summary of record types contained in the record group, and descriptions of the records. The chapter heading gives the title of the record group (for example, “Records of the Bureau of Land Management”), the record group number, the dates covered by the records, and the size of the collection given in cubic feet. The administrative history tells when the agency was established, if it had predecessors or transfers, if it was abolished, or if it has successors. This section also lists finding aids such as preliminary inventories, notes whether the records include classified material, and gives references to related record groups. In a box following the administrative history, the records type summary describes the types of materials (textual, maps, motion pictures, etc.), the locations of each type of record, and the size in cubic feet or other relevant measure for each type. With the opening of the National Archives facility in College Park, Maryland, and the holdings of regional archives and Presidential libraries, this summary is an especially valuable aid for finding the records. The descriptions of the records include a history of the agency or of the records themselves, details of each record type, and a list of any microfilm publications from the records.

The index in Volume 3 is arranged alphabetically. It lists all personal names and all named acts of Congress as well as position titles, names of organizations, place names, and subjects. Entries that begin with a number (e.g., 9th Naval District) list first. For alphabetizing purposes, punctuation marks are ignored, acronyms and abbreviations are considered as whole words, and foreign language entries having a definite article (e.g., der in German) are alphabetized by the article (German titles beginning with der would be under “D”). The important thing to remember when using the index is that references are to record group numbers and not to page numbers. In fact, except for the introductory material, there are no page numbers in the description volumes. A record group number may have subdivisions to help you get to the exact records within the group.

The Guide to Federal Records in the National Archives of the United States is available in the Government Documents collection of the Houston Public Library and other depository libraries in the area. It is also available electronically on the National Archives web page (www.nara.gov). On the NARA homepage, choose “Historical Records of Government Agencies” (under “The Research Room”); then select Guide to Federal Records... on the next page.

There is an important companion resource on the NARA web site: Microfilm Resources for Research: A Comprehensive Catalog. When I noticed the list of microfilm publications in the Guide’s descriptions, I first thought, “Great! Now all I need to do is check the microfilm catalog and I can find out the details of the microfilm! Wow!” Not exactly. Most of the published microfilm catalogs are several years old and predate the Guide. New microfilm publications are obviously not included. But the edition of the microfilm catalog under “Historical Records of Government Agencies” on the NARA web site is 1996, and with the “find” function of my web browser, I was able to quickly identify the publication numbers I needed.

Why use the Guide to Federal Records in the National Archives of the United States? Now the most up-to-date and comprehensive guide to the National Archives, it will help researchers find out about all the records that are available (not just those someone else has deemed “genealogical”), whether those records have been microfilmed, and where the records are held. It will be essential for “doing your homework” before taking a research trip.