FOIA basics for historical records

The Freedom of Information Act gives anyone the right to ask federal agencies for their records. It has a reputation as a journalist's tool, but family historians and local historians use it too: for an ancestor's FBI file, an immigration case, a federal investigation of a local mill, or the records of an agency that ran a dam project in their valley.

It's also a slower and more formal route than most researchers need. Before writing a FOIA request, it's worth knowing when you don't need one.

When you don't need FOIA

Most historical federal records are already open. Once records are transferred to the National Archives as permanent records, most of them become available to the public without any request: you can view them in a research room, order copies, or find them digitized in the National Archives Catalog. The census, military service records old enough to be archival, passenger lists and many court records fall into this category. FOIA mainly matters for records that are still held by the agency that created them, or for archival records that are still restricted.

Some agencies also run their own research services. The US Citizenship and Immigration Services runs a fee-based Genealogy Program for historical immigration and naturalization files of deceased immigrants, which is usually faster and better suited to family history than a FOIA request. Requests for your own records, such as your own military personnel file, also go through separate channels.

FOIA covers federal executive branch agencies only. It doesn't apply to Congress, the federal courts, or state and local governments. For a county sheriff's records, a city council's minutes or a state hospital's files, use your state's public records law. Every state has one, with its own rules, deadlines and exemptions. The state archives or attorney general's office usually publishes a guide.

How a FOIA request works

There's no special form for most agencies. A request is a letter or online submission that reasonably describes the records you want. Each agency has a FOIA office, and the government's central site, FOIA.gov, explains the process and lets you send requests to many agencies through one portal.

A good request:

• Names the agency, or the specific office, most likely to hold the records. Sending it to the right component saves months.
• Describes the records as precisely as you can: names, alternate spellings, dates of birth and death, places, file or case numbers, and the time period.
• Says what format you want (electronic copies are usually easiest).
• States how much you're willing to pay in fees before the agency checks with you.
• Gives your contact information.

Include what you know about why the record should exist. "My grandfather, born 1902 in Ohio, was interviewed by the FBI in 1943 about his employer" gives a records officer something to search for.

Records about other people, living and dead

FOIA requests about another person run into the privacy exemptions. Agencies may withhold information whose release would be an unwarranted invasion of personal privacy, and they apply this firmly to living people.

For deceased people, privacy interests are much weaker, and agencies will often release records if you show the person has died. Include proof of death with your request: a copy of a death certificate, an obituary, or a printout of a cemetery or Social Security death record. Some agencies also treat a person as presumed dead after a certain number of years have passed since birth; ask the FOIA office about its practice.

Requests about living relatives without their consent will usually be refused, and that's the system working as intended. If a living relative wants their own records, they can request them under FOIA or the Privacy Act, and they can choose to share them with you.

Time and cost

By law, agencies must respond within 20 working days, and can extend that in unusual circumstances. In practice, a response often means acknowledging the request and placing it in a queue. Simple requests at some agencies are answered in weeks; complex ones at busy agencies can take many months or longer.

Fees depend on who you are and what you're asking for. Requesters who aren't commercial, news media or educational, which covers most family historians, generally get the first two hours of search time and the first 100 pages free, and pay for search and copying beyond that. You can ask for a fee waiver if the records would add significantly to public understanding of government activities, which can apply to local history projects. Agencies won't charge more than the amount you agree to without asking.

Exemptions and redactions

Agencies can withhold information under nine exemptions, covering things like national security, internal personnel rules, confidential business information, personal privacy, and law enforcement records whose release could cause specific harms. They must release the parts of a record that aren't exempt, so you'll often receive pages with blacked-out sections, each marked with the exemption used.

Redactions in old files can be frustrating, but they aren't necessarily the last word. As time passes, the case for withholding often weakens, and a new request years later may get more.

If you're refused

If the agency withholds records, says it found nothing, or denies a fee waiver, you can file an administrative appeal. The response letter explains how and gives a deadline. Appeals do succeed, particularly when you can point to a better search or show that the person has died.

The Office of Government Information Services, part of the National Archives, offers free mediation between requesters and agencies as an alternative to court. After appeals, the last option is a lawsuit in federal court, which is rarely worth it for family history.

A realistic plan

For most historical research, the order of operations is:

1. Search the National Archives Catalog and ask a reference archivist whether the records are already archived and open.
2. Check whether the agency has a genealogy or research service.
3. If the records are still at the agency and you can't get them another way, send a precise FOIA request with proof of death where relevant.
4. Log the request date, tracking number and every contact in your research notes. The research log on our homepage works for this.

Then work on something else while you wait. FOIA rewards patience, and the records you're waiting for will mean more when you've already built the rest of the story from the census and local archives.