Recently, someone forwarded to me a JACL (Japanese American Citizens’ League) notification: “JACL Action Alert: San Bruno and Chicago NARA Closures.” It informed me that the National Archives and Records Administration ( NARA ) has announced plans to close its San Bruno (San Francisco), California and Chicago, Illinois, facilities within 3 years, with transfers potentially beginning as early as August 2026. Records [incl. original record of United States v. Wong Kim Ark (1898)] will be moved to “other locations.”
San Bruno holdings comprise 100,000 cubic feet of records, including Asian and Pacific immigration and naturalization materials; the original case file from United States v. Wong Kim Ark, the 1898 decision that helped establish birthright citizenship; Chinese Exclusion case files; German, Italian, and Japanese American World War II records; documents concerning the Tanforan Assembly Center incarceration; legal records related to the motion to vacate Fred Korematsu’s 1944 conviction; Japanese picture bride files; Alien Files containing visas, photographs, and family-history materials; records documenting Indigenous and Hawaiian communities; Mexican Land grant cases; and arrival case files for Russian Jews and other immigrants from throughout the world.
Chicago facility holds permanent records created by federal agencies and courts in Illinois, Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, Minnesota, and Wisconsin, including naturalization and genealogical records and Chinese Exclusion Act case files from Chicago and St. Paul, Minnesota. (JACL Alert)
The Formidable Genealogist notes that the naturalization records in Chicago may be important to those still pursuing naturalization and citizenship in the US. Observing that these actions have received little coverage in the news, she poses several questions:
Where are these records going?
How long will they be unavailable?
Why hasn’t the public seen any access plan [for these records]?
Furthermore, the government seems to be intent on dismantling the “Institute of Museum and Library Sciences (IMLS)—the only federal agency dedicated to providing funding for the nation’s libraries—by executive order,” even though the order to shut the organization down in 2025 was overruled by the courts. See the American Library Association (ALA) website for updates. The latest news involves an attempt to remove the E-Rate Program for affordable broadband service to libraries and patrons.
According to a KPIX report, NARA archives facilities have already been shut down in Ohio, Illinois, and New York.
There’s more to the JACL memo, including information on what you can do about this situation. Read the whole JACL Action Alert on their website.
PBS Report on the NARA closures (June 2026).
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