National Archives at Chicago Will Close; Records Move to Other Sites
Archive News · National Archives at Chicago
The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) has announced that the National Archives at Chicago will close in the next few years. In an August 2026 update, NARA said the archival records held there will remain accessible to researchers after they move to other National Archives facilities.
Where the records are going
According to NARA, many record groups now in Chicago, including federal court records, are planned to move to the National Archives at Kansas City. Railroad Retirement Board records are going to Boston, NASA records to Fort Worth and several smaller groups to Atlanta and College Park. On-site and remote reference service in Chicago continues for now. NARA has not announced a closing date.
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Why it matters for Polish-American research
The Chicago facility serves Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio and Wisconsin, and its holdings include naturalization records from federal courts. That covers some of the largest Polish communities in America: Chicago, Detroit and Hamtramck, Milwaukee and Cleveland. Expect some series to be temporarily unavailable while they are packed, shipped and reopened.
What you can do now
- If you need a federal court naturalization file from these states, request it while Chicago is still serving it.
- Before a visit, check the NARA Researcher Updates page for closures of specific record groups.
- Remember that many naturalizations took place in state and county courts, whose records are not held by NARA.
Sources and research tools
How we can help
When a change opens a new record for your family, we can fold it into a research project: we order or read the record, compare it with your other documents and follow the trail to the parish in Poland. See the research projects for scope and prices.
