Ask the Archives is a live chat service with National Archives staff available Monday through Friday, from 12 p.m. to 4 p.m. ET (excluding federal holidays). Archivists throughout the agency with a variety of knowledge are available to answer your questions. You can find chat on the archives.gov home page or on the Contact Us page. Just click the blue chat icon to get started. (If the icon is gray, it means that you have reached us outside of operational hours.)
This service is perfect for service members and their families looking for military records like DD-214s or other personnel records, for quick answers like checking on our operations and policies, and for answers to questions like “Do you have something I need?”
Archivists cannot help with bigger research queries or do research for you, but they can point you in the right direction towards your next step.
For example, we can’t find your grandparent’s naturalization records for you over chat, but we can point you in the right direction to get you started in your research.
We can also tell you what we don’t have, which can be useful for your research.
More complicated questions are perfect for our History Hub research support community.
History Hub is the ideal platform for more complex questions that benefit from more time devoted to users, as well as from a broader base of experts.
Free and open to anyone, you can ask questions and get answers from multiple sources including National Archives staff, other archives, libraries, museums, and a community of genealogists, history enthusiasts, and citizen experts like you.
Asking a question is easy on History Hub! Just go to History.gov and type your question into the “Ask” box. In a moment, answers to similar questions will appear:
You can also browse a variety of topical communities within History Hub, like those for Military Records, Genealogy, or African American Records, which offer their own Blogs and Question & Answer Forums:
There’s even a community for Citizen Archivists! Meet other members; share favorite records; exchange tips and suggestions! Past topics in the Citizen Archivists community include:
Do you have a question about a record in the Catalog? Do you have questions about related records? Do you need to request a digitized copy?
The reference staff can help you with these questions. You can find their contact information in the Archived Copy section of each Catalog description.
For example, here is the contact information for Case Files of Pension and Bounty-Land Warrant Applications Based on Revolutionary War Service, ca. 1800–ca.1912 which we’ve highlighted in red:
Questions about how to search the Catalog?
First, check out the HELP link at the top of every Catalog page.
It is filled with information and step by step instructions. If you still have questions, contact the Catalog staff - catalog@nara.gov
Do you have a question about contributing transcriptions or tags as a Citizen Archivist?
Be sure to check out our Resources page where you can find video tutorials and instructions for Citizen Archivists.
Then review our FAQs. We’ve gathered some of the most asked questions (and answers) from our users. If your question has still not been answered, email the Community Managers at - catalog@nara.gov
Last weekend we updated our Catalog search engine to be more responsive and reliable. Search results should match keywords better, even when words are misspelled. The filters along the left side of the results page should work more smoothly and consistently. Problems with search results appearing in an odd or incorrect order should be resolved.
After you’ve searched the Catalog, let us know what you think of the upgrade by completing our Catalog feedback survey.
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