Tucked away on the third floor of the U.S. Custom House at Bowling Green, above the National Museum of the American Indian, is an unassuming room filled with a few dozen computers, some printers, and a couple of staff members and volunteers.
Give that this office is the National Archives at New York City, it looks remarkably plain and ordinary — but appearances can be deceiving. In fact, the sanctum is a magical place, made all the more so by the fact that most people — even longtime New Yorkers — seem unaware of its existence.
A visitor who entered the facility out of curiosity one recent afternoon, after visiting the National Museum of the American Indian, proceeded to spend the rest of the day poring through a treasure trove of annals, chronicles and documents. In just a few hours, she had found more than a dozen entries — including census records, World War I and II draft cards, and immigration records — of her grandparents and great-grandparents.
This opportunity is among of the gems that the National Archives offers. Anyone can come in and use the computers, which have access to ancestry.com (no registration or login required) and many other archival search databases. All of this is completely free; all a visitor need do is sign in at the front desk.
The Archives also maintains historically significant records for Federal agencies and courts from New York, New Jersey, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands from 1685 onwards, and select microfilm publications of the National Archives.
In the computer databases, you can research for family members who would appear in census and other official records before 1945. The staff members, including some volunteers, are extremely helpful, willing to offer advice you how to efficiently search the databases. They are also often as excited as visitors when they find a family record. One volunteer shared that she had traced her family line back to the 1600s.
One patron approached her first database search doubting that she would find anything. With a paternal grandmother and grandfather of Italian and French-Canadian descent, respectively, she knew little about where or when they were born, or what their parents’ names were. Like many other people, she had heard family folklore, but was hazy about the specifics. Had grandparents met in Providence, Rhode Island or Hartford, Connecticut? Were her grandfather’s parents natural-born citizens, or did they immigrate from Canada? Where in Italy did her grandmother’s parents emigrate from, and where in the U.S. did they arrive and settle?
My grandmother’s father’s World War II draft card, one of the many documents I found using the Archives’ search database.
But, to her great surprise and astonishment, with the guidance of an Archives staff member, on the very first search she was able to find her grandfather — he was actually the first result. From there, using census records from when he was still a child living with his parents, she was able to research his parents and siblings.
Anybody considering such research might think that staring at an official census record from eight decades ago would be a tad boring. In fact, there’s something incredible about looking at an authentic, handwritten document that attests to a family member’s existence.
In 1930, her great-grandfather was 35 years old, worked as a salesman in a grocery store, had a wife and five kids, and lived on Charles Street, in Providence. According to his draft card from World War I, he was 5′ 6.5″ tall with hazel eyes, gray hair, and a “ruddy” complexion. It’s simple information; no dark family secrets or glimpses into his personality or emotions to be found here. But its straightforward eloquence is also beautiful, and as someone who never met her grandfather, let alone her great-grandfather, she found it extraordinary and moving. When she shared these documents with her family, they responded with a similar sense of wonder. Now, they are planning a group visit to the National Archives, to find more records — but to do so as a family.
The National Archives NYC is located at One Bowling Green on the third floor of the United States Custom House. It is open Monday through Friday, from 10:00 am to 5:00 pm. For more information, call 212-401-1620 or browse at www.archives.gov/nyc.
Isabel Tessier
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The National Archives NYC Office offers free programs, including free student field trips, educator professional development workshops, genealogy and author lectures. Programs are offered year round, with the student workshops ending in June and becoming camp programs for the summer.
Genealogy workshops are part of their “Finding Family Genealogy Series”, that run in the Spring from March – June and again in the Fall from September to December.
The newest fall workshop list will be posted to their website soon at:
https://www.archives.gov/nyc/public/workshops
https://www.archives.gov/files/nyc/public/workshops_1.pdf
Author programs, “History Talks” and “Science Speaks” are part of a larger partnership with the NYC Department of Education, bringing in educators to evening events. Here is a link for the current schedule. https://www.archives.gov/nyc/press/2016/history-talks.html
During the summer, the Learning Center will be open to the public (Tuesday thru Thursdays) from 1pm -3pm. The National Archives Learning Center offers self directed hands-on discovery, whereby the public can open archival boxes and browse through facsimile records to discover more about the records kept in trust for the American people.
Visitors are also welcome to open drawers and see actual size copies of the Charters of Freedom, i.e. the Declaration of Independence, The Constitution, and the Bill of Rights, among a variety of other records. (Note, the original copies of these records are at the National Archives in DC)
Visitors are also welcome to make copies of documents they want, and take home, courtesy of our National Archives Foundation.
All of our programming is free and open to the public, however it is advised to register for each program since space is limited.
The Welcome Center is open the same times as the Research Center 10am – 5pm Monday through Friday. The Welcome Center has the New York on the Records display – a yearly exhibit of originals from our holdings. Details for “Amending America” using records of the National Archives NY office can be found at:
https://www.archives.gov/nyc/press/2016/amending-america.html
In that exhibit, visitors can see the record of Harriet Stanton Blatch (also downloadable at that page.) It was there as a direct link to their October programming on the National Conversation on Women’s Rights and Gender Equality. That program is viewable at: https://www.archivesfoundation.org/amendingamerica/conversations/women/ and by clicking on the link “watch the livestream” That program is also accessible via the National Archives Youtube channel.
Other conversations are listed at: https://www.archivesfoundation.org/amendingamerica/conversations/
This week, the final conversation will be held June 21-22 at the National Archives in DC. Details at: https://www.archivesfoundation.org/amendingamerica/conversations/dc/ While that program is in DC the public can register to view the live stream.
Dorothy Dougherty
Programs Director
National Archives at New York City