United States researchers of many, many types find themselves inevitably drawn to the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) to gain access to a nearly incomprehensible wealth of national historical documentation. NARA and its branch locations are the repositories for all kinds of documents-- both originals and microfilmed copies. The Presidential Libraries also fall under the jurisdiction of NARA and provide unparalleled insights into the personalities and administrations of many Presidents of the United States.

Genealogical researchers are among the largest users of the NARA facilities, and NARA’s website is one that I suspect every American genealogist has accessed countless times. I find myself referring to information at the site any number of times a week, both for my personal research and to help answer questions of students in my genealogy classes at MyFamily.com.

If you haven’t visited the NARA website lately, you should make a beeline to the site as soon as possible. It is an old and trusted friend on the Web for genealogists and it has recently received a fabulous facelift.

While there is no way I can possibly describe all the changes made to the NARA website and the many improvements there, this week I want to highlight some of the resources that you may never have known existed there--or things your suspected were there somewhere but just didn’t know how to access.

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