Government records are often the best and most pure fuel for whatever kind of historical research that you are undertaking. They will provide you with the “official” positions into policy decisions happening all the time in the expanse of the American bureaucracy. This can be as diverse as looking at internal FDA documents related to the approval of the birth control pill or the Pentagon Papers or the Civilian Conservation Corps, etc.
Here in the United States, most government records, federal or state, will eventually make their way to either the National Archives or the official archives for that state. (Or if you’re really lucky even your county or even city will have their own archives as well.) Now how to find the exact records you need is the tricky and fun part.
Fresh out of grad school I spent many years conducting research at the National Archives in D.C. and College Park and in satellite offices around the country. I got firsthand experience in the enormity of the National Archives and the quite frankly overwhelming number of records held there. As such only a sliver of those records are available online. And the ones that are online and available for research are tied around special online exhibits that they have created or through partnerships with organizations like Fold3. But even those are a pebble of sand in the vastness of the Sahara.
To help navigate those waters the National Archives has produced very detailed and lovely finding aids and guides. Now these won’t help you find any of the records online. They are solely for finding records when you plan on visiting the various locations. Before delving into these finding aids, like with any historical research, it helps greatly to know the history. Or maybe it is more like knowing the background to the history that you are researching.
Government agencies change. New ones get created. Old ones get folded under different agencies. And there are over 400 agencies and subagencies in the federal government. It is something that is difficult to wrap your head around. Each of these agencies are creating government encompassing a wide range of materials as part of their day-to-day operations. These run the gamut from legislative acts, executive orders, court proceedings, census data, correspondence, and much more. All of these records recording the intricacies of societal, political, and economic dynamics.
Government records are generally considered to have a degree of impartiality and they provide a unique window into the policymaking and decision-making processes of a particular time period. From legislative debates to executive decisions, these records unveil the motivations and considerations behind pivotal moments in history.
The types of records held by various archives include censuses, birth and death certificates, and other demographic records, which can be used to trace population trends, migration patterns, and demographic shifts over time. Court records, legal statutes, and judicial proceedings provide insightful looks into the legal systems allowing you to analyze the evolution of rights and the impacts of landmark cases. Additionally, budgets, economic reports, and trade records help shed light on economic policies and financial situations.
So far, I have been focused on federal records, but state and local archives will hold the government records for their respective localities, and there is a greater and easier chance of finding their records online. Family Search has put together a good list of state and local archives. Also, these smaller archives tend to be more responsive or quicker in responding to enquiries. Not that the National Archives won’t respond back to requests, it’s just the shear amount of requests that the National Archives receive limits their ability to promptly respond back to every request. In my dealings with them, I have found state and local archives to respond back to your request fairly quickly and reasonably. Most requests do often come with a fee of some sort, either a research or copy fee.
Check out the Internal blog to find the best websites out there for historical government records, and as always, the Internet Archive and HathiTrust have a slew of government publications located deep within their bowels.
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