Saturday, July 31, 2010

Midwest Family History Expo - Focus on the National Archives in Kansas City

When you do a Google search on NARA - Kansas City, the top hit is a sushi restaurant. But for genealogists, NARA in Kansas City means the National Archives and Records Administration.

Lori Cox-Paul, Director of Archival Operations at NARA Kansas City, opened the Midwest Family History Expo with a keynote address sharing information about many of the services NARA makes available to genealogists.

Start by exploring the NARA web site for the central plains states. The Kansas City location houses records from Nebraska, Iowa, Kansas and Missouri. There are also a few records from North Dakota and South Dakota. This repository of the National Archives moved to a new location about a year ago and is now located near Union Station in downtown Kansas City.

Records available at the Kansas City location are all Federal government records. They house homestead records, military records, naturalization records, tax records - these are just a few of the many record groups available through online indexes.

Begin exploring the web site on the Research Tools page. The quickest way to find information on your ancestor is to type a surname in the Search box at the top of any page. After the Midwest Family History Expo, I plan to explore this site further for my ancestors who, fortunately, lived in Nebraska, Kansas, Iowa and Missouri. I'm hoping to locate some information on those elusive Long Lost Relatives right here in Kansas City!

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