National Archives at Chicago, IL

I love this place. It isn’t for tourist, but serious researchers are lucky to have this facility here. Using an archive is not like using a library. You have to know what you are looking for and be willing to put in some time and effort to find it. The staff is amazingly knowledgeable and are extremely helpful. They show a real sense of mission to help the public make good use of this great resource. To make good use of your time there, do your homework before you go. Study their website to determine what resources are available. Also, it never hurts to call ahead to let them know what day you will be there and to let them know what materials you want to use. Security is taken very seriously here which is necessary since the vast majority of the materials are irreplaceable. Our tax dollars are being well spent to make the National Archives available to us all. I guess I should find something negative to say, so I wish they had longer hours, but that would take congress to increase their funding, and that isn’t likely to happen.