WHAT TO KNOW ABOUT ATTENDING GEN-FED
WHERE & WHEN: The Genealogical Institute on Federal Records (Gen-Fed) is an annual week-long seminar held in person at the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) building in Washington, D.C. The institute is held usually the first week of August and only may accept about 40 students, due to the limited seating available at the facility. The announcement of specific dates are found at the Gen-Fed News feed and the public Gen-Fed Facebook page.
WHAT: Gen-Fed is one of the premier institutes on U.S. records, focused on the documents of the federal government held at National Archives’ facilities, especially at Washington, D.C. and College Park, Maryland. Experienced instructors from the fields of professional genealogy and archives serve the students. The course is aimed at upper-intermediate to advanced-level students with extensive experience in hands-on research in courthouses and state repositories and online searches. Students enjoy both class time and opportunities for hands-on research and interaction with in-house archival specialists.
PROGRAM: The program includes a full five days of instruction onsite at Archives I in Washington D.C. with one day at Archives II in College Park, Maryland. A sample of the 2023 Gen-Fed program is available here: Gen-Fed 2023 Schedule Annotated
COSTS: The program currently costs $650 per student. Each student must provide their own transportation, housing, and board while in attendance. Gen-Fed does arrange for limited hotel accommodations at a reduced rate for registered students only.
REGISTRATION: Registration is held by drawing. Prospective applicants may apply to have their name drawn from the list of applicants during the week-long registration week. At the end of that week, a live online drawing for the available number of seats are held, plus a number of names for a waiting list for that year only. Gen-Fed does not maintain a waiting list for the following year. Registration dates will be announced at and the Gen-Fed Facebook page and the Gen-Fed News feed. Subscribe to the news by scrolling to the bottom of the news feed and entering your email address.
OTHER: Students must be willing to provide some personal information for security reasons for entrance into the federal facility. All personal information will be kept private by the Gen-Fed administration staff. When we welcome repeat attendees, a five-year embargo period must pass before an alumnae may return in order to allow others a chance to participate.
WITHDRAWALS & DEFERRALS: If a student must withdraw from Gen-Fed after accepting a registered seat, the registration fee will be returned (less any bank fees incurred). Students are not automatically deferred to the next year’s program. Deferrals are also not allowed on the basis of conflicts in social or work events (i.e., family wedding or work trips), job changes, housing moves, vacations, financial difficulties (i.e., not being able to afford travel and/or housing in the registration year), etc. Any other situation may be described to the Director at info@gen-fed.org.
CODE OF ETHICS & PROFESSIONAL CONDUCT: Each student will be required to agree to abide by the Institute’s Code of Ethics at the time of registration.
SAFETY & RISK OF COVID INFECTION: As with any travel or group gathering, participants understand there’s a chance of exposure to COVID, the flu, or other ailments, however, we each have an obligation not to put others at risk, regardless of whether a student, faculty, or staff. The Gen-Fed COVID policy (in alignment with NARA’s COVID policy) can be viewed on the COVID Updates section linked at the top of each page on our website.