Last week, I watched a video on Lisa Louise Cooke’s YouTube channel about the closure of the National Archives, and it inspired me to write a blog post about the subject.
It’s been over two full years since the National Archives fully opened. (It opened briefly this past November in two locations then closed again).
Now, in St. Louis, you have to request an appointment for a research room or you can’t go inside.
Researchers and genealogists, can’t obtain records, photos, and films, needed to complete projects for clients and themselves.
Veterans can’t but need to gain access to their military records to apply for benefits.
Geoff states in the video he is not saying fully open up, but slowly open up to pre-pandemic level. One of the guest speakers, Jessica Taylor said that a man was told "shame on me for building my business model around relying on the National Archives".
I was looking at a military researcher's services to see if they were available again to potentially purchase military records. By looking at her website, I found out that she had pursued a different profession until the archives open fully. So, you see that this closure has affected everyone on a massive scale.
*Update: From Geoff to Lisa in the comment section: 'According to Geoff, my guest, "Research rooms nationwide have started to open on a limited, by appointment basis. Access is being rationed to some extent because it can often take days, weeks or even months to get an actual appointment. In St Louis there are a very limited set of records that can be viewed and the actual research room is not yet open. We have a long way to go until things are back to pre-pandemic levels for researchers. Still, we are very glad that things are starting to open again! The Archivist of the United States resigned in April." '
What do you think about the National Archives closure?
If you want the National Archives to potentially open quicker, then please sign the petition here.
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