#nprc

Fifty years ago this week, a fire destroyed millions of military personnel documents at the National Personnel Records Center (NPRC) in St. Louis, MO, part of the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA).

The event—unprecedented in the scale of its damage to federal records—changed how the National Archives builds its facilities, maintains its holdings, and serves veterans and the public.

To honor the anniversary, the National Archives is sharing its most comprehensive effort to document the history and resources available to understand the NPRC fire, its aftermath, and the changes it led to in policies and procedures.

Preservation Technician cleans a record while wearing a battery powered air-purifying respirator for protection. Decontamination Lab, National Archives at St. Louis, MO.

Conservators: Magicians of the Archives! November 4 is #AskAConservator Day! Our conservators will take over Twitter Nov. 4 to answer your burning questions about how we deal with mold, water and insect damage in order to preserve these records for generations to come! Ask questions & follow the hashtag to see who else is participating worldwide. 

See related National Archives News story: Fulbright Scholar Joins Heritage Science Lab and Tumblr post: We Welcome Cancy Chu - Our 1st Heritage Science Fulbright Scholar!

Check out our state-of-the-art labs! Lab at the National Archives, St. Louis, MO See this lab’s continuing work to save and reconstruct the records damaged in the 1973 fire. 

Magna Carta Conservation Treatment See NARA conservators use UV photography to reveal previously illegible writing on a 1297 Magna Carta (on loan from David M. Rubenstein).

Ultraviolet fluorescence photo of the 1297 Magna Carta parchment (before treatment) revealed obliterated text in damaged areas. Photo by Sarah Raithel. Related press release: National Archives Conservators Reveal Previously Illegible Text in Magna Carta

Saving the Iraqi Jewish Archive Days after the Coalition forces took over Baghdad in 2003, American soldiers entered Saddam Hussein’s flooded intelligence building and found, under four feet of water, books and documents relating to the Jewish community of Iraq. Learn how these records were vacuum freeze-dried, preserved and digitized under the direction of the National Archives. View these records here.

Peek “behind the scenes” to see treatment of these records in the National Archives state-of-the-art Conservation Lab.

Due to mold, conservation staff wore gloves and masks, and worked under ventilation hoods whole working with records from the Iraqi Jewish Archive. 

Preserving Family Histories Paper conservator Annie Wilker repairs an 18th-century fraktur and demonstrates techniques used to preserve damaged documents.

More secrets revealed online!

What's a Conservator?

NARA Conservators Meet the Challenge Every Day, Prologue Magazine

Repairing Existing Damage to Family Papers and Photographs

Declaration of Independence - learn about the conservation treatment and re-encasement of the document.

In Search Of Leadership At The National Personnel Records Center

“MILITARY TIMES” By Rep. Warren Davidson “Last March, like many other government office buildings, the National Personnel Records Center closed in response to the spread of the novel coronavirus. Unlike many other government agencies, the NPRC’s primary mission cannot be carried out remotely. the center — which houses all the military records for America’s service members — remains barely…