Frequently Asked Questions
- How do I search ARC?
- Does ARC contain any genealogical sources?
- How do I search ARC to find online copies of historical documents and photographs?
- How can I order images or copies of historical documents found in the ARC catalog?
- Do I need permission to use digitized historical documents found in ARC?
- How do I cite archival materials from NARA?
- How much of NARA's holdings has been described in ARC?
- How do I find out about material that is not described in ARC?
- How much archival material does NARA have?
- Is ARC the only place on your web site where I can find descriptions of archival materials and digitized historical documents?
- How can I improve my speed?
- Can I bookmark a search result from ARC?
- What happened to NAIL?
- I'm looking for a description I saw in NAIL, but all I have is the NAIL control number. How do I find it?
- What do I do if I have technical problems or system time outs?
- I am using an AOL Browser. Why do I get a session time out message when trying to search in ARC?
How do I search ARC?
There are many search hints available to help you use ARC. Please see How to Search in ARC for more information.
Does ARC contain any genealogical sources?
ARC contains some descriptions of archival records that are genealogical sources. Please see Search Hints for Selected Topics in ARC: Genealogy for more specific information.
For more information about genealogical research at NARA, please see NARA's gateway for genealogists/family historians.
How do I search ARC to find online copies of historical documents and photographs?
You can search ARC to view online copies of historical documents and photographs linked to archival descriptions. Go to the ARC main page at: http://www.archives.gov/research/arc/index.html. Near the top of the page, click on the yellow "Search" button. This will bring you to the basic search page. You may enter any term or terms(s) in the keyword box. Then select the digital copy filter checkbox, listed as "Descriptions of Archival Materials linked to digital copies." Press Go.
If the descriptions you searched are linked to online copies of historical documents and photographs, the results will present 6 thumbnail images per page. Click on the Title to view the full description with the image or click on the image link to view the image(s) directly. For easy viewing, you can put the thumbnail images onto one page by clicking the "Printer Friendly Version" button. But please note: if you have a high number of hits, this display will take a little while to load.
If you conduct a search, but do not select the digital copies filter, your results may still include links to online copies of historical documents and photographs. You will not see the thumbnail first, but you will see the hyperlink "Digital Copy Available" that will take you to the thumbnail(s) and larger image(s).
The ARC Galleries highlight digital copies available in ARC and contain ARC Search Links. (Tips for ARC Search Links include instructions for refining the search for digital copies.) Some ARC Gallery pages include instructions for finding digitized documents, photographs, and images in ARC on selected topics.
How can I order images or copies of historical documents found in the ARC catalog?
Please follow the ordering procedures specific to the NARA unit responsible for that material. That information is displayed in the ARC description in the Contact field. Ordering information for all units is also available.
Do I need permission to use digitized historical documents found in ARC?
The vast majority of digitized historical documents and photographs in ARC are in the public domain. Therefore, no written permission is required to use them. We would appreciate your crediting the National Archives and Records Administration as the original source. For the few that remain copyrighted, please read the instructions noted in the description for the digital image. Please note that a few photographs on other areas of our web site have been obtained from other organizations and that these are always credited. Permission to use these photographs should be obtained directly from these organizations.
How do I cite archival materials from NARA?
For information about how to cite archival materials from NARA's holdings, please refer to Citing Records in the National Archives of the United States.
How much of NARA's holdings has been described in ARC?
ARC currently contains descriptions of only a percentage of NARA's permanently valuable holdings. Please read What Is in ARC? for more information about the database's scope.
How do I find out about material that is not described in ARC?
You can find additional information in a number of ways. You can visit our online research room; you can e-mail our general reference desk at inquire@nara.gov; or call us at (301) 837-2000.
You may also write us. Send general requests to:
National Archives and Records Administration
National Archives at College Park
8601 Adelphi Rd
College Park, MD 20740-6001
Send genealogical requests to:
National Archives and Records Administration
7th and Pennsylvania Ave, NW
Washington, DC 20408
Please include the following information in the body of your message, whether it is e-mailed or mailed.
- First and Last Name
- Telephone number, including area code [optional]
- FAX number, including area code [optional]
- Mailing address
- Internet e-mail address, if available
- Detailed request
How much archival material does NARA have?
The size and breadth of NARA's holdings are staggering. The National Archives and Records Administration's 33 facilities hold about 21.5 million cubic feet of original textual materials--that's more than 4 billion pieces of paper from the executive, legislative, and judicial branches of the federal government. The National Archives multimedia collections include nearly 300,000 reels of motion picture film, more than 5 million maps, charts, and architectural drawings, more than 200,000 sound and video recordings, more than 9 million aerial photographs, nearly 14 million still pictures and posters, and about 7,600 computer data sets.
Is ARC the only place on your web site where I can find descriptions of archival materials and digitized historical documents?
Not all finding aids and images on the NARA web site are described in ARC yet, although that is our goal. You may also want to visit the Gateway for Educators and Students, the Online Exhibits, Research at the National Archives, and the individual Presidential Libraries' web sites.
How can I improve my speed?
We have designed ARC to work with as many computer system configurations as possible. Depending upon your own computer and Internet connection, you may experience slowness in three areas:
If you experience slowness in these areas, try the following:
- Searching for large (2,000 hits) results sets
- Displaying the printer-friendly version of large results sets
- Displaying the hierarchy for large results sets
- If you are using a Netscape browser, consider using an Internet Explorer browser version 5.0 or higher. Generally, Explorer uses less memory than Netscape. This will be especially useful if you are having difficulty displaying the printer-friendly and/or hierarchy screens. In addition, Netscape version 6 may perform faster than older versions of Netscape.
- Clear your browser's cache.
- Close open applications you are not using.
- Lower your search results limit.
- Consider upgrading your memory. We have found that all features generally work well with 128 MB of RAM, although less memory may suffice depending upon other variables.
Can I bookmark a search result from the ARC catalog?
ARC Search Links encoded to retrieve descriptions by keyword or ARC ID number can be bookmarked. Tips for ARC Search Links explain how to use ARC Search Links, refine the results for digital copies, and bookmark an ARC Search Link. Instructions for Creating ARC Search Links provide information about how to embed your own keywords in an ARC Search Link and bookmark it.
During an active ARC search session, however, neither the search pages (Basic or Advanced) nor your search results can be bookmarked.
What happened to NAIL?
NARA's Archival Information Locator (NAIL) has been replaced by ARC. ARC has all the features and data of the prototype NAIL catalog, yet has more functionality. ARC will represent a greater percentage of archival materials from Washington, DC, the Regional Records Services facilities, and the Presidential Libraries.
I'm looking for a description I saw in NAIL, but all I have is the NAIL control number. How do I find it?
Control numbers used in the NAIL system have been converted to ARC. You can search for the NAIL control number by typing it in the Keyword search box on the Basic or Advanced search screens, or in the Description Identifier box on the Advanced search screen. Since this is an exact phase search, be sure to place the control number within curly braces, e.g. {NWDNS-111-B-4246}.
See also the ARC Tips Sheet for Former NAIL Users in PDF or in Word formats.
What do I do if I have technical problems or system time outs?
ARC is designed to time out after a search session has been inactive for more than 30 minutes. If you experience technical problems while using ARC, it may be the result of how your Internet browser settings are configured. There may be two different reasons you are experiencing problems: 1) your Web browser is not accepting session cookies or 2) your Web pages are being cached.
Session Cookies:
If your Web browser is not accepting session cookies, ARC will not work. ARC requires the use of "Session Cookies" to maintain your search session. Please change this setting and begin again.
If you are using Internet Explorer, perform the following steps:
- Starting in the Tools menu at the top of the screen, select: Tools > Internet Options > Privacy Tab.
- Select the Advanced Tab for Settings.
- Click the box to allow "Override automatic cookie handling."
- Click the box for "Always allow session cookies."
If you are using Netscape, perform the following steps:
- Starting in the Edit menu at the top of the screen,
select: Edit > Preferences > Advanced > Cookies.- Select the button "Accept all Cookies". If you want to be notified then select "warn me before accepting cookies." Press ok and close.
Please note: Although ARC does capture session cookies, it does not capture persistent cookies. NARA does not record what you specifically do or where you go on our web site. We also do not use any method to monitor what you've done in the past on our Web site. We do not use cookies to do anything other than maintain your session while in ARC.
Web page Time outs / Clearing your Cache:A session may time out when a user's Internet browser preferences have been set to prohibit the reloading (and refreshing) of Web pages that have been previously visited and stored in its cache. To change this, you must change the default settings on your browser to allow new versions of web pages to be loaded. Please change the setting and begin again.
If you are using Internet Explorer, perform the following steps:
The setting is called "Check for newer versions of stored pages."
- Starting in the Tools menu at the top of the screen,
select: Tools > Internet Options > Temporary Internet Files - Settings- Under "Check for newer versions of stored pages", select: Automatically.
If you are using Netscape, perform the following steps:
The setting is called "Document in cache is compared to document on network."
- Starting in the Edit menu at the top of the screen,
select: Edit > Preferences > Advanced > Cache
- Under "Document in cache is compared to document on network", select: Every time.
If the problem persists, you can sometimes force a server reload of the search page by pressing CTRL F5 in Internet Explorer or by holding down the shift key while clicking Reload in Netscape. Use the browser's BACK button to resume searching.
Please report any technical problems to the ARC mailbox at arc@nara.gov by sending a detailed message of the error and the steps leading up to the error.
I am using an AOL Browser. Why do I get a session time out message when trying to search in ARC?
ARC is designed to time out after a search session has been inactive for more than 30 minutes. Many of our AOL users have reported that they receive time out messages even while actively searching ARC with the AOL Browser. Some AOL Browser users experience an immediate time out when they press the yellow search button.
First, you should verify that your browser is accepting session cookies and your cache is cleared. On the AOL web site, there are instructions for enabling session cookies and clearing your cache in the AOL Browser.
If you continue to experience session time outs, the problem may be the version of AOL that you are using. After investigation and discussions with AOL, NARA technical staff has determined that AOL Browser versions prior to 9.0 Optimized SE do not correctly handle "Session Cookies," which are required when searching in ARC. In order to search in ARC, you must upgrade to AOL 9.0 Optimized. If, after upgrading, you continue to have problems, please contact AOL at 1-800-392-5180 and refer to problem ticket #139635238.
PDF files require the free Adobe Reader.
More information on Adobe Acrobat PDF files is available on our Accessibility page.
