National Archives Hosts Free Genealogy Fair April 19, 2006
Press Release · Wednesday, April 19, 2006

Washington, DC

Washington, DC: Our Capital Heritage

What: The Customer Services Division of the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) will host its second annual Genealogy Fair on Wednesday, April 19, 2006. This year's theme, Washington, DC: Our Capital Heritage, will focus on Federal records relating to the people and community of the nation's capital. Sessions will offer guidance in the use of Senate nomination files; Washington, DC building permits; D.C. court records; D.C. claims from Congressional Committees; Freedmen's Bureau records; and Freedman's Savings and Trust records. The fair will provide information and guidance for experienced genealogy professionals and novices alike. This event is free. National Archives staff will demonstrate how to use the following: Archival Research Catalog (ARC), Access to Archival Databases (AAD), HeritageQuest and AncestryPlus, and eVetRecs (electronic veterans' records requests). There will also be demonstrations of the microfilm digital scanner and the online genealogy tutorial.

When: Wednesday, April 19, 2006, 9:15 AM. - 3:45 PM. For a schedule of lectures and demonstrations please visit the Washington, DC area events page.

Where: National Archives Building, Research Center Lobby, 700 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW between 7th and 9th Streets, Washington DC. Government-issued photo identification is required to enter the building. The closest Metro stop is the Archives/Navy Memorial stop on the Yellow and Green lines. The National Archives is fully accessible. If you need to request an accommodation (e.g., sign language interpreter) for a public program please e-mail public.program@nara.gov. or call 202 357-5000 at least 2 weeks prior to the event to ensure proper arrangements are secured.

Who: Donald Roe, Ph. D., will speak on The Struggle to Desegregate the Public Schools in the District of Columbia. Roe is an Assistant Professor in the Department of History at Howard University where he teaches U.S. history and Public History. He retired from the National Archives after twenty-six years as an archivist and subject area expert in the Motion Picture, Sound, and Video Branch.

Kathryn Allamong Jacob, Ph.D., will speak on Memory, Monuments, and the National Archives and also give a walking tour, Testament to Union: Embodying the Civil War in Marble and Bronze. She is the Johanna-Maria Frænkel Curator of Manuscripts at the Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America at the Radcliffe Institute at Harvard University. Jacob is the author of Capital Elites: High Society in Washington, DC After the Civil War (Smithsonian Press, 1994) and Testament to Union: Civil War Monuments in Washington, D.C. (Johns Hopkins University Press, 1998).

Background: The National Archives holds the permanently valuable noncurrent records of the Federal government. These include records of interest to genealogists. For information on NARA's holdings see www.archives.gov.

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For press information, contact the National Archives Public Affairs Staff at 202-357-5300.

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