This is the 2nd in a series of informational emails you will receive about the SHAFR 2005 conference. Please contact me if you did not receive email #1 about services at the NARA II facility.
Best,
Sara
Sara Wilson
Conference Coordinator
SHAFR
Below is a letter from Sally Kuisel, archivist at National Archives II, and a member of SHAFR's program committee:
To SHAFR registrants:
We anticipate that a number of historians attending the SHAFR conference will also want to get in a bit of research between sessions or in the evenings. Since the Archives is co-hosting the event, our diplomatic archivists will be assisting with conference arrangements or presenting papers, so that consulting with an archivist before requesting records may be difficult. State Department and public diplomacy records are part of the Archives Civilian Records unit. We will try to have two diplomatic archivists on duty in the Civilian Records consultation area, room 2600, and Ed Barnes, a Specialist who works in the Textual Research Room (room 2000), is familiar with diplomatic records. If you need to speak with an archivist before your arrival, you can telephone Civilian Records at (301) 837-3480 or 0929. The email address for the Archives is inquire@nara.gov.
There a couple of things that conference attendees can do to facilitate ordering
records. First, have a look at "Research Room" on the Archives website,
http://www.archives.gov, which gives detailed information about using the research
rooms, copying facilities and research paths. Our new diplomatic webpage at
http://www.archives.gov/research_room/research_topics/state_dept_guide.pdf gives
a comprehensive overview of State Department records, including the central
file, lot files and post records and provides an excellent introduction for
first-time users. Second, be sure to note file numbers relating to your topic
in "Foreign Relations of the United States." As most of you know,
besides providing the text of important foreign policy documents, FRUS also
gives file citations, printed either with the document or in footnotes, which
are the keys to obtaining access to other related documents that were not selected
for publication in the series. And beginning in the early 19!
50s, FRUS volumes have a very good list of sources in the front of each volume.
There is a complete set of post-1945 FRUS volumes in the Textual Research Room
if you need to refer to them while you are here. The earlier volumes are in
the Archives Library.
Requests for records should be submitted in the Textual Research Room, where there are finding aids to the State Department central file, as well as box lists for the lot files arranged by subject (ex. Executive Secretariat, Europe, Western Hemisphere, Policy Planning Staff, etc). Records are pulled at 9:30, 10:30, 11:30, 1:30 and 3:30 Monday through Friday. Under normal conditions, it takes about an hour from the pull time until the records appear in the Textual Research Room. If you want to work on Saturday, remember that the last record pull is 3:30 on Friday afternoon. Our hours are Monday and Wednesday 8:45 am - 5:00 pm; Tuesday, Thursday and Friday 8:45 am - 9:00 pm; and Saturday 8:45 am - 4:45 pm.
The Nixon Presidential Papers are still housed in Archives II, pending their transfer to California. You can contact a Nixon Presidential Materials Staff archivist by calling ext. 73290 on the telephone just inside the Textual Research Room front door. The Modern Military Records (including OSS and CIA records) consultation area is room 2400, adjacent to the Textual Research Room (telephone 837-3510).
Researchers can move freely about in the Research Complex but need to obtain
a pass in the Textual Research Room and be escorted to both the Civilian Records
consultation area in room 2600 and the Modern Military consultation area in
room 2400. Here is a list of facilities and research rooms in the Research Complex:
Level B - lecture rooms, auditorium
Level 1 - entrance, cafeteria, researcher registration
Level 2 - Textual Research Room (837-1964)
Level 3 - Cartographic and Architectural Research Room (837-3200)
Level 4 - Microfilm Research Room (837-2015); Motion Picture, Sound and Video
Research Room (837-0526)
Level 5 - Still Picture Research Room (837-0539)
Level 6 - Electronic Records Research Room (837-0470)
Everyone wanting to use original records will have to first get a Researcher Identification Card just inside the lobby and watch a short PowerPoint presentation on handling records. To obtain the card, you will need some form of official photo identification such as a passport or driver's license with your current address.
Sally Kuisel