Democracy starts here. That is the motto of the National Archives, created in 1934 to house the country’s most important historic documents and to centralize federal record keeping.
Before that time, individual government agencies were in charge of maintaining their own records, many in disarray, careless stored, and damaged by fire, insects, heat, and just the vagaries of time. The first set of records to be archived, identified through an extensive survey in 1937, included 1,360,000 cubic feet of records, a figure which of course continued to increase, as New Deal and then World War II records poured in.
The building is a bombproof, fireproof facility that stores documents in sealed glass vaults that are – amazingly – elevated for viewing during the day, and then descend each night into the safety and security of the deep caverns below the structure.
Among the documents shared with visitors include the U.S. Constitution, Declaration of Independence, and copies of the Magna Carta and the Emancipation Proclamation.
Attraction Information
- Hours:
- Spring and Summer (March 15 – Labor Day): 10am to 7pm daily
- Fall and Winter (Day after Labor Day – March 14): 10am to 5:30pm daily
- Admission:
- Free
- Metro Stop:
- Redline to the Gallery Place-Chinatown Station
- Contact:
- Location: 700 Pennsylvania Avenue Northwest, Washington DC
- Phone: 202-357-5400
- Website: www.archives.gov
