Center for Legislative Archives

Overview

The Center for Legislative Archives is a component of the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), serving as the repository for the historically valuable records of the U.S. House of Representatives, the U.S. Senate, and other legislative branch organizations and commissions. It is located in the National Archives Building on Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington, D.C.

History

The legal basis for the Center's core holdings traces to the Legislative Reorganization Act of 1946, which required that, at the end of each Congress, the Clerk of the House and the Secretary of the Senate collect all noncurrent records of Congress and its committees and transfer them to the National Archives for preservation. This requirement is codified in Title 44, Section 2118, of the U.S. Code, under which the Clerk and Secretary jointly transfer noncurrent House and Senate records to NARA every two years, subject to the orders of their respective chambers. NARA itself was established as the National Archives Establishment in 1934, placed within the General Services Administration in 1949, and became an independent federal agency as NARA under the Records Administration Act of 1984, effective April 1, 1985.

Collections, Holdings, and Publications

The Center's holdings, which remain the legal property of the House and Senate rather than NARA, include records of U.S. House of Representatives committees and administrative/support offices (Record Group 233), records of U.S. Senate committees and administrative/support offices (Record Group 46), and records of Joint Committees of the U.S. Congress (Record Group 128), along with records from legislative branch organizations such as the Congressional Budget Office, the former Office of Technology Assessment, and the Government Accountability Office. Records are arranged primarily by Congress, then by committee, then by record series. House records are generally closed to the public for 30 years and Senate records for 20 years, though some categories are restricted for up to 50 years depending on content. The Center also maintains special collections, including the Clifford K. Berryman Political Cartoon Collection and Senate oral history and research interviews, along with published reference materials such as the Journals of the House and Senate, the Congressional Record and its predecessors (the Globe and the Annals of Congress), the Statutes at Large, and CIS Indexes.

Access and Usage

Researchers, including congressional scholars, historians, attorneys researching legislative intent, and genealogists, can consult records on-site in the Center's research room; researchers are advised to contact the Center in advance to confirm that specific records are open and available for review.