Naval History and Heritage Command

*****NOTICE*****

Due to preparations for our upcoming move, the NHHC Archives is temporarily unable to assist public researchers with their requests. This temporary shift in priority will allow us to move into our new facility and address a large processing backlog. We anticipate these tasks will be completed no earlier than Fall 2023.

The Archives is currently open to official researchers only. Federal employees and contractors pursuing research for official business are encouraged to schedule an appointment to come to the Archives and conduct on-site research or submit a remote reference request through the archives email address at archives@navy.mil.

We encourage all researchers to search the digitized materials available on the NHHC website to see if your needs can be met with material already available there.  If public researchers require further support, they can request material via a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request.  Guidance and instructions on this process can be found on the FOIA section of this website.   Additional Navy records can be found on the National Archives and Records Administration website.

A selection of electronic finding aids are posted here to help researchers better understand the composition of a particular collection.  The finding aids are organized by collection type: Operational Records; Personal Papers & Donated Collections; and Transferred Collections.  For more information on each collection type, please visit their respective pages.

Keep in mind that the finding aids for many collections are not available on this website. The staff at the Navy Archives can provide more information on collections related to your search that aren't described here. In addition, the Navy Department Library also has a number of research guides for their special collections.

Research guides, which have information on where to find Navy records in other repositories, can be found on our Resources for Researchers page.

Contact the Navy Archives via phone at (202) 433-3224 or email us at archives@navy.mil to request more information on our collections.

Note about classified records:

While the electronic finding aids are unclassified, records within a collection may still be classified. In accordance with Executive Order 13526 and an amendment to the 1999 and 2000 Defense Authorization Act, commonly known as the Kyl-Lott Amendment, classified records will require the completion of a Mandatory Declassification Review (MDR) and Kyl-Lott Review by the Department of Navy Assistant for Administration, Directives and Records Management Division (DON/AA DRMD) before they are made available to researchers.

If there is a particular record in a collection that a researcher is interested in reviewing but is still classified, then a Mandatory Declassification Review request should be submitted for the record/collection. Requests must include the name(s) of the document(s), date(s), collection name, and box/folder number. For assistance on submitting a request to DON/AA DRMD, please contact us by phone or email.