Military Records

The agency provides access to records and documents of the U S Government, nationwide. Services include archives, genealogical collections, government publications and military records. There are no geographic restrictions.

The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) appraises, accessions, arranges, describes, preserves and provides access to the essential documentation of the three branches of government. It also manages the presidential libraries and publishes laws, regulations and presidential and other public documents.

Records and documents may be available on microfilm, digital images of documents and photographics can be seen through NARA's Archival Research Catalog (ARC), some of the more recent documents are on electronic files transferred from the Department of State and are available online through Access to Archival Databases (AAD).

The Archives also contains information on military service records, resources for genealogists and resources for teachers. For the military it contains military service records; information on how to replace military lost medals and awards; and has a collection of photographs from World War II. For genealogists there are many resources to do research including census records, immigration records, land records, naturalization records and military records. For teachers it contains teachers' resources which offers eBooks on subjects like the Meaning and Making of Emancipation and Exploring the United States Constitution; has an online teaching tool which can be used in the classroom; and a summer workshop for educators on using historical documents in the classroom.

For military service records the National Archives is the official repository for records of military personnel who have been discharged from the U.S. Air Force, Army, Marine Corps, Navy and Coast Guard. Records of individuals who left service 62 years or more become archival records that are open to the general public.

Riverside National Archives holds records dating from the 1850's to 1990's. They include textual records, architectural drawings, maps and photographs generated by Federal courts and agencies from Arizona, Southern California and Clark County, Nevada. The Riverside National Archives also has genealogy research resources.

San Francisco National Archives holds records dating from 1850's to 1980's generated by Federal courts and agency field offices from Northern and Central California, Nevada, Hawaii, American Samoa, Guam and former trust territory of the Pacific Islands. The San Francisco National Archives also has genealogy research resources.