Press Release: March 17, 2009
Central Plains Region
National Archives Plans for New Facility
For More Information Contact:
Reed Whitaker
(816) 268-8000
Kansas City, (MO)…The National Archives at Kansas City relocated on March 17, 2009 to the Union Station Complex at 400 West Pershing Road, Kansas City, MO. The General Services Administration contracted for the restoration of the former Adams Express Building, which will be leased to the archives. The Adams Express Building was constructed between 1912 and 1914 after designs drawn by Jarvis Hunt, who also conceived of Union Station Kansas City and The Kansas City Star building.
The new facility features state-of-the-art archival storage and public research rooms using the latest computer tools to support the work of historians, genealogists, educators, and other researchers. In addition, the new location houses archival records in a specially designed storage module with temperature, humidity, and other environmental controls which achieves optimum preservation of the documents. The archives goal is to encourage more visitors to explore their history through the records of the Federal government.
Among the archive holdings are original records of the U.S. District Courts, U.S. Attorneys, Bureau of Prisons, Steamboat Inspection Service, Bureau of Indians Affairs, Corps of Engineers, U.S. Army Command and General Staff College, National Parks Service, and microfilm publications of many of the nation’s most significant records. Treasures of the National Archives at Kansas City among the 50,000 cubic feet of its holdings include records relating to the milestone Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Wild West showman “Buffalo Bill” Cody, President Ulysses S. Grant, and Walt Disney.
Beginning March 17, the research rooms at the new facility, 400 W. Pershing in Kansas City, are open from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Friday. In late May the archives will launch three simultaneous exhibits; a Welcome Center gallery with interactive exhibits and audio-visual presentations featuring "Democracy Starts Here;” a Regional History Gallery opening with the Kansas-Nebraska Act, on loan from the National Archives in Washington, DC; and the Concourse Gallery offering "It's Big: 75th Anniversary of the National Archives," featuring big documents, big ideas, big personalities, and big events from the Central Plains Region.
To prepare for the new building, staff recently worked with a consultant to prepare a five year strategic plan. The plan emphasizes exhibit, education and regional history programming. Lead by consultant Dr. Bryan LeBeau, Vice-President of Academic Affairs at the University of St. Mary, the plan was formulated by a staff committee using recommendations of a comprehensive study titled “A Study Project for the National Archives on Outreach and Education Programs at the Central Plains Region” issued in March 2008. “The plan is bold and ambitious, reflecting the opportunity of the new building;” says Tom Mills, Assistant to the Archivist of the United States.
The Kansas City Star, under an agreement with the National Archives, will operate “The Kansas City Store at the National Archives” gift shop to open in late April. The shop will sell souvenirs such as books, publications and other history-themed items about the region and unique facility.
The media can schedule pre-occupancy tours of the building during the week of March 23 by contacting Kimberlee Ried at 816-268-8072.
The National Archives at Kansas City is one of 14 facilities nationwide where the public has access to Federal archival records. It is home to more than 50,000 cubic feet of historical records dating from the 1820s to the 1990s created or received by nearly 100 Federal agencies. Serving the Central Plains Region, the archives holds records from the states of Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, and South Dakota. The facility is located at 400 West Pershing Road, Kansas City, MO 64108. It is open to the public Tuesday - Friday from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. For more information, call (816) 268-8000 or visit the Central Plains Region web page.
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NREA 09-05
