The Genealogical Institute on Federal Records will be held in-person at the National Archives in Washington, D.C., from Sunday, August 10th through Saturday, August 16th, 2025.

Gen-Fed registration applications will be accepted from February 8 to 21.
The live randomized drawing will be held on February 22nd. 

There is an exciting change coming to Gen-Fed registration. Here’s what you need to know.

1. • The rule that a person cannot attend twice within five years is still our policy. Due to such limited seating we want to give more people a chance.  The only exception to this is for people who attended the 2021 or 2022 virtual sessions. Those persons may reapply for the in-person institute within the five years.
   • We empathize with those who have tried year after year to get in, but haven’t been picked. The new policy is that those who have applied multiple times since 2021 will be allowed an extra entry into the drawing for every third, fourth, or more attempts to register. In other words, their name will go in multiple times for the 2025 drawing.  See the chart below.
   • There will be a section in the new application that goes out on February 8 to indicate previous unsuccessful applications. We will check names on our running list.
   • For persons who attended a virtual session in 2021 or 2022, that year does not count for times applied to Gen-Fed.
   • People who sucessfully obtained a seat from 2021 to 2024 but had to withdraw are eligible for these rules as well.
   • We are not extending this policy to registration applications from 2020 and before.

Looking forward to seeing you!
Rebecca & Mary

	Virtual 2021	Virtual 2022	In-person 2023	In-person 2024	Options
Applicant 1			applied	applied	After only 2 tries, this person gets 1 entry in 2025. If applies in 2025 but not drawn, this person eligible for 2 entries in 2026.
Applicant 2	applied		applied	applied	After 3 tries, this person gets 2 entries in 2025.
Applicant 3	applied	applied	applied	applied	After 4 tries, this person gets 3 entries in 2025.
Applicant 4	applied	attended virtual	applied	applied	Because this person attended a virtual session, their other 3 tries still equal 2 entries in 2025. The virtual session is not an unsuccessful application.
Applicant 5		applied	attended in-person		This person attended an in-person session. They are not eligible to apply again until 2028.
Applicant 6		applied	name drawn but could not attend	applied	The year this person’s name was drawn for a seat, but they had to withdraw. This still counts as 3 tries, this person gets 2 entries in 2025.

If you are planning on being in D.C. during the Gen-Fed week, consider joining us for the Alumni Association evening gathering on August 16th.  Reservations are required, go to https://www.gen-fed.org/home/alumni-association/banquet24/ for more information.

Our speaker will be Trevor K. Plante, Supervisory Archivist at the D.C. National Archives, who will inform us on the progress of NARA’s digitization efforts.

 

 

 

The Gen-Fed Registration Drawing will be held this Saturday, 17 February at 1:00 ET

 

 

After reading the FAQ at https://www.gen-fed.org/advantageous-accidents-gen-fed-drawing-2024/, use this link to enter your name in the drawing, https://airtable.com/app89NTnfxcLGjVIM/shrEBtczX6ITPEa6S .

Gen-Fed will send an email to entrants after the form closes on 16 February with the Zoom link for the live drawing on Saturday, 17 February at 1:00 p.m. ET / noon CT / 11:00 a.m. MT / 10:00 a.m. PT.  You do not need to attend the drawing to be awarded the registration seat.  Registrants will be contacted between Saturday and Monday, 19 February with final registration materials.

If you have already entered the drawing, you may not have completed all the questions and your entry was not complete.  Emails have been sent.  Please check your email including spam folders.

We are looking forward to seeing you on Saturday!

Rebecca & Mary

 

The Gen-Fed entries are ALREADY being collected for the registration drawing to be held Saturday, 17 February at 1:00 ET.

In the excitement of creating the previous news post, and the admittedly new-to-making-Airtable-wow-this-is-fun glow, I accidentally already posted the link for entering names into the drawing for registration seats, instead of waiting to post it the week of February 10th through February 16th, 2024 as stated. So we asked ourselves, what’s the harm? We are interested to see how this advantageous accident – having the link up for longer than one week – will affect the ability of people to become aware of this unique educational experience. The link will stay up from now until the form closes at 9:00 p.m. ET on Friday, 16 February 2024.  The FAQ about registration is repeated below and has been expanded.

Use this link to enter your name in the drawing, after reading the FAQ below: https://airtable.com/app89NTnfxcLGjVIM/shrEBtczX6ITPEa6S 

Gen-Fed will send an email to entrants after the form closes on 16 February with the Zoom link for the live drawing on Saturday, 17 February at 1:00 p.m. ET / noon CT / 11:00 a.m. MT / 10:00 a.m. PT.  You do not need to attend to be awarded the registration seat.

READ THE F.A.Q. FIRST 

Q: When and where is Gen-Fed held this year?
A: The Genealogical Institute on Federal Records will be held in-person at the National Archives in Washington, D.C., from Sunday, August 4th through Saturday, August 10th, 2024.

Q: Am I ready for Gen-Fed?
A: This is an important question. Gen-Fed is a week of advanced-level courses on federal records in a complex facility.  It is best to have at least intermediate to higher-intermediate level skills and education before going into this week.  Try this self-evaluation test here.

Q: Why hold a drawing for registration, why can’t I just register?
A: More people want to attend Gen-Fed than we can accommodate at NARA. For that reason, we use a random selection process to even the playing field.  After entries are collected, they will be entered for a random drawing to select registrants. If you are selected, you must be prepared to pay the fee, agree to policies, and attend the week of Gen-Fed.

Q: How many seats are available?
A: In 2024 we will be drawing 35 seats. This is determined by (a) the number of persons allowed in the space reserved for us at Archives I, plus (b) the number of 2023 scholarship winners or sponsored students who selected Gen-Fed as their institute of choice. Twenty additional names, above and beyond the remaining available seats, will be drawn for waitlist status for 2024 only.  Those on the waitlist will be registered if people selected for the drawing need to withdraw and a seat becomes open.

Q: How will I know if I won a Gen-Fed seat?
A: Winners will be randomly drawn on Saturday, 17 February 2024 at 1:00 p.m. ET during a live session, viewable by all, via Zoom (you don’t need to be present to win).

Q: How many times can I enter?
A: Once, please. Duplicates will not be included in the drawing.

Q: When will waitlist entrants be notified that they’re “in?”
A: ASAP, if/when seats become open.

Q: Will waitlist entrants be on the list for next year?
A: No, the list starts fresh next year with a new drawing.

Q: When do I pay tuition?
A: Payment ($650) will be due, in full, upon email notification that you’ve won a seat and are officially registered.

Q: What if I’m attending on a scholarship (ex: Lackey, ASG, BCG, other sponsorship, etc.)?
A: No need to fill out the form–your seat has already been reserved.

Q: What about hotel and transportation?
A: Each student is responsible for their own transportation and board.  Gen-Fed has contracted with a local hotel for a lower group rate.  Go to the Registration FYI page for more.

Q: If I get a registration seat, then I have to withdraw, can I have a seat saved for next year?  If not, can I get a refund?
A: No, seats are not saved for next year.  The drawing starts fresh every year. Exceptions to this are on a case-by-case basis and are exceptionally rare. Gen-Fed offers a full refund less any bank fees incurred.

Q: What else should I know?
A: Students must all agree to abide by the Code of Ethics & Professional Conduct to be allowed to register.  Additionally, the National Archives has COVID regulations in place, and the Gen-Fed Institute has also amended it to include their own recommendations.  Read them; you must agree to the Code of Ethics and confirm that you will comply with the NARA COVID regulations as well as understand what the Institute COVID recommendations are.

Here’s to the Advantageous Accidents that may find their way into your Research!

Thank you to all those who applied for registration to the Genealogical Institute on Federal Records for 2023.  Persons whose names were drawn have been notified by email that they will be able to register for the event.  Additionally a waitlist of 12 people have also been notified by email; the waitlist is for this year only and will not be held over until the next registration.

If you were not able to come this time, we sincerely hope you will be able to join us in the future!

Rebecca & Cinda