Guide to Archives in DC

Guide to Archives and Historical Collections in the Washington Metropolitan Area

Manfred F. Boemeke Roger Chickering

Hypertext version by Raimund Lammersdorf

Part I: Overview of General Resources

Part II: Research Resources in Modern German and Austrian History

This Guide is dated December 1995. It may be updated in the future.

Be aware that these files are large and may take some time to download.

Preface

Nowhere else in the United States, it seems safe to say, is there such a wide array of resources for historical research than in the Washington, D.C., area. From Byzantine and medieval manuscripts to the papers of twentieth-century public figures; from copious sources chronicling the African-American experience to detailed documentation of the lives of Native Americans, settlers, and immigrants; from genealogical information to official records of the American as well as foreign governments, the amount and variety of materials available to the historian is limitless. The National Archives alone house a virtual treasure trove for the researcher, as does the Library of Congress. Beyond these well-known institutions, however, there are a large number of smaller archives, repositories, and special collections that grant access to interesting, and often unique, sources.

The purpose of this Guide is twofold: Part I is intended as a general overview of the archival landscape in the Washington area, with brief descriptions of the kinds of materials to be found at each of the listings; Part II focuses exclusively on sources in modern German and Austrian history and provides detailed information on the holdings of specific collections. Originally conceived as separate research aids, the two parts of this Guide complement each other well, and the advantages of presenting them in a joint publication are obvious.

Part I was originally compiled by the German Historical Institute from a variety of reference guides and directories, and each institution included was contacted to verify and update the details of the listing. In the case of larger archives, only the most important of their collections have been mentioned, and no attempt was made to include even part of the holdings of the National Archives.

Part II, prepared by the Center for German and European Studies of Georgetown University, is based on a survey of some fifty institutions, with most of the information provided by archivists and librarians who responded to an initial inquiry; in most cases, their own descriptions of their holdings have simply been incorporated here.

This Guide makes no pretense to being a finished product. Our hope is that it will elicit further information from institutions that we may have overlooked or not adequately represented; subsequent editions, should they seem useful, will reflect these responses.

Thanks are due to Anne Hope for compiling an earlier version of Part I, as well as to Rick Doyle and Ken Finneran for their diligent work in verifying the entries. We are also grateful to Sherry Föhr, who assisted in administering the preliminary surveys for Part II.

Washington, D.C., December 1995

Manfred F. Boemeke, Roger Chickering