What information do I need to provide when applying for a researcher identification card?
36 C.F.R. § 1254.8
in effectEffective: 2024-07-01(a) You must apply in person and show identification containing your picture or physical description, such as a driver's license or school identification card. You also must provide proof of your current address, such as a bank statement, utility bill, or department of motor vehicles change of address card, if the address on your driver's license or other identification is not current. Students who consider the home of their parents as their permanent address, but who do not live there during the academic session, must provide their current student address. If you travel long distance to conduct research in original archival materials at a NARA facility, we may ask you how we can contact you locally. In special circumstances, the director of a facility or unit has the authority to grant exceptions to these requirements.
(b) If you apply for access to large quantities of documents or to documents that are especially fragile or valuable, we may require you to furnish additional information about reasons why you require access. Some materials are too fragile or valuable for direct handling or viewing. Preservation concerns (see §§ 1254.20(b) and 1254.36(e)) and availability of resources (see § 1254.20(c)) may limit our ability to accommodate certain requests.
(c) If you are younger than 14, you must follow the procedures in § 1254.24 to seek permission to conduct research.
(d) We do not issue you a researcher identification card if the appropriate supervisor or director of the NARA facility determines that the documents that you wish to use are not in the legal custody of NARA and you do not present appropriate written authorization from the legal title holder to examine the documents.
(e) The collection of information contained in this section has been approved by the Office of Management and Budget with the control number 3095-0016.
Source: eCFRURL: https://www.ecfr.gov/api/versioner/v1/full/2024-07-01/title-36.xmlFetched: 7/26/2026