1. The National Archives II building itself opens before the 9 a.m. opening time for the Textual Research Room, so it is worth arriving early to get the preliminaries out of the way and be at the reading room’s entrance by its opening time. If it is your first time, be there by 8:30 a.m.
2. A security guard at the entrance to the grounds will ask your purpose and your ID and direct you to the parking garage.
3. No charge for parking. The parking garage sits on a slope as you approach the NAII building. You can either enter the garage at its bottom level (the first entrance) and park inside or continue up the street to the second entrance which puts you on the roof. That is the closest place to park to the NAII building entrance.
4. After entering NAII, you first go through airport-type security.
5. Next comes the Research Registration room. It opens at 8:30 a.m. After viewing a video on the rules of use of NAII you are issued a photo ID card, which doubles as your debit card for operating the photocopiers. Any reference material that you need to carry with you into the Textual Research Room will be stamped here at the desk. If you plan to use electronic equipment–scanner, lap top, or camera–go next to the curved reception desk in the lobby and ask the guards to issue you a property receipt for the equipment. You will need it to go through security. Rules governing use of such equipment are available at the Research Registration room. There are power outlets in the cubicles for researchers in the Textual Research room.
6. Then go downstairs. Make a right and look for the “Telephones and Researcher Lockers” sign located behind a display about NAII. Bring a quarter with you to operate the locker. If you forget, there is a snack room on the main level where you can get change or use the change machine next to the vending machines adjacent to the cafeteria. Leave jackets, pens, books, etc. in the locker. Also, cases for your electronic equipment must be stored here. Only notes and pencils or mechanical pencils are permitted in the reading room. Red pencils are not permitted.
7. Return to the main level. Go through the turnstiles and show your researcher’s ID card (and property receipt if using electronic equipment) to the guard. Continue down the hall to the cashier (to the right of the elevators) and have money credited to the card. (The money is not refundable, so plan accordingly. Up to 5 p.m. you can always come back and have more applied to the card. After 5 or on Saturdays, there is a device in the reading room behind the pillar near the Information Desk which will accept cash and credit your card. Bring small bills because it does not give change.) The displays connected to the photocopiers tell you how much money remains on your card. Keep your card for future visits to NAII because it will still have unused money credited to it.
8. Proceed to the second floor where the Textual Research Room is located.
9. Check in with the Information Desk near the entrance. They will log in your card.
10. Turn left and go to the room labeled Research Consultation. It contains various finder aids and has archivists available to help you. It is divided into “Civilian” and “Military” (see overhead signs). Complete the order forms, known as Reference Service Slips. A large chart propped on top of a bookcase just inside the entrance explains how a slip should be completed. On the slips, enter the reference numbers of the boxes of files you want. The number of file boxes to be pulled should not exceed 24, the capacity of the cart used to transport them. Turn the Reference Service Slips over to one of the archivists who will check them for completeness, time stamp them, and place them with other slips for the next pull time. Find a research cubicle near whichever copiers you will be using.
11. NAII is open Monday, Tuesday, and Saturday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Pull times for documents are 10 a.m., 11 a.m., 1:30 p.m., and 2:30 p.m. Also at 3:30 p.m. on days that the reading room is open to 9 p.m.
12. If you are requesting large numbers of documents, as soon as you submit your first set of requests, while waiting for them to be delivered, prepare Reference Service Slips for the next group of boxes. You can have a maximum of two carts of boxes at one time, with one at your cubicle in the reading room and the other waiting for you at the Circulation Desk.
13. Depending on how many boxes are being pulled for you, your cart may arrive at the Circulation Desk any time up to an hour or more from the announced pull time. Periodically check the log at the Circulation Desk to see if your cart has arrived. If your order has arrived, the log will give the arrival time, your name, Record Group, number of boxes, and the name of the person who pulled them. If the Circulation Desk has some problem with your request, our Research Card number will be posted on a bulletin board to the left of the Circulation Desk.
14. There are two desks for photocopying, the Short Term Copiers desk, in charge of the 5-minute copiers, and the Copy Center desk, in charge of the 1-hour copiers. Obtain from them several of the long, narrow Reproduction Tab slips to identify which documents or folders you intend to copy. Bring the entire box and show the documents you wish to copy to the person at the desk. If any are classified, he or she will issue you a declassification sticker to put on the glass of the copier, with a number on it that corresponds to the declassification category of the documents. Keep that sticker for subsequent copying. Do not leave it on the glass. The photocopiers use a pale blue paper to distinguish copies from original documents. See the staff at the copier desk about removing staples or paper clips. Use the supply of non-acid slips of paper and stainless steel paper clips available at the copier desk to clip the documents together the same way you found them. Copier fees are 25 cents each for regular copies, $1.25 for color.
15. Laminated plastic place-holder cards are provided to help you keep files and documents in order. Use them. Only one box may be removed from the cart at any time. Only one folder may be removed from a box at a time.
16. The following are prohibited while examining documents:
- Licking your finger tips.
- Using rubber finger tip covers.
- Using the eraser end of a pencil.
17. There are four 5-minute copiers at the Short Term Copiers desk. You can use yours as long as you want unless they are all in use and there are people waiting to use them, at which point the person at the Short Term Copiers desk will announce that only five minutes remain. At the Copy Center (far end of the reading room), where they have eight large copiers, which you can reserve a for an hour at a time or a whole day. And you can take an entire cart with you rather than a single box. They also have a short-term copier that you can use without making a reservation.
18. When I was there in June 2011, the Copy Center also had an Océ color copier (which was out of order), a Kodak photocopier, a digital copier, a Minolta book scanner, and a Bookeye 3 book scanner (out of order). In an alcove adjacent to the Copy Center were two stationary camera stands that you can reserve that are specifically designed to assist researchers who want to use their cameras to take photos of documents under controlled conditions.
19. If you wish to take your own papers from one research room to another in the building, they must be stamped at the Information desk at the entrance to the Textual Research Room before leaving it.
20. At the end of the day, if you have not finished examining the documents on your cart, return it to the Circulation Desk and they will hold it for you for the next day up to a maximum of three days.
21. On the 4th floor are WWII photos of the US Air Force.
22. When you are finished and want to take your photocopies with you, go to the Information Desk and have them examined. Your materials will be locked in a locking bag, known as the “green bag,” to expedite going through security on the main floor.
23. Your plans can be disrupted. One time they held a fire drill and the entire building had to be vacated. Another time at least the Textual Research Room was closed early due to the need to make plumbing repairs. Another fire drill occurred during my visit in June 2011, with arriving cars backed up to the highway at the entrance to the NAII grounds.
24. The cafeteria on the first floor only serves breakfast and lunch and accepts only cash. When I am working in the Textual Research Room on those days when they are open in the evening, in order to save time and be able to work straight through until 9 p.m., I buy some food at lunch time that I store in my locker until dinner. The cafeteria seating area remains open in the evening and I eat dinner there. Although there is a water and ice dispenser, there are no cups or glasses, so bring your own. When I was there in 2011, the cafeteria hours for serving food were: breakfast 7 a.m.-9:30 a.m. and lunch 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. The convenience store near the entrance to the cafeteria is open 7:30 a.m. to 4 p.m., Monday to Friday. In addition to snacks, it has a small assortment of food that you can heat up in their microwave.
25. On the fifth floor of NAII, there are copiers for copying photos and color copying. Arrange at the Information Desk at the entrance to the Textual Research Room to have the documents taken to the fifth floor for copying.
26. There are nine motels on Baltimore Ave. a few minutes drive from Adelphi Rd. where NAII is located. The NAII website provides a link to the University of Maryland website which lists hotels. See http://www.uga.umd.edu/admissions/visit/accommodations.asp.
27. There is local bus service to NAII.
28. For the official word on NAII, go to their website at: http://www.archives.gov/dc-metro/college-park/#hours.
29. There are numerous fast food businesses scattered along Baltimore Avenue where most of the motels are located. For a better choice in food, go south on Baltimore Avenue. A few blocks past the entrance to the university on Baltimore you will find a cluster of restaurants and other businesses that cater to the students. If you like a decent choice of soup and salad, try Jason’s deli at 7356 Baltimore Ave.
30. If you have time left over before returning home, you may want to visit the College Park Aviation Museum. See their website for details at: http://www.collegeparkaviationmuseum.com/home.htm
