[7] NARA is officially responsible for maintaining and publishing the legally authentic and authoritative copies of acts of Congress, presidential directives, and federal regulations.

[8] It also examines Electoral College and constitutional amendment ratification documents for prima facie legal sufficiency and an authenticating signature.

[11]The work of the National Archives is dedicated to two main functions: public engagement and federal records and information management.

All records maintained by the executive branch must be properly identified by NARA and authorized for eventual destruction or appraised to be of permanent historical or legal value to be preserved and made available to the public.

Congress created the National Archives Establishment in 1934 to centralize federal record-keeping, with the Archivist of the United States serving as chief administrator.

NARA was officially given its independence from the GSA with the passing of the Records Administration Act of 1984, thus giving birth to the institution that exists today.

[18] The reels, made of exceptionally flammable nitrate material, had been donated previously by Universal Pictures and were stored in special vaults intended to protect against fires.

[28][29] As part of its role in receiving and authenticating Electoral College votes, the agency intercepted and rejected forged certificates of ascertainment from Trump allies in seven states who were strategizing to overturn the 2020 presidential election.

[30][31] Upon leaving office in 2021, Donald Trump delayed providing material to the National Archives in accordance with the Presidential Records Act.

In February 2022, U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland announced that the National Archives had notified the Justice Department that it found classified documents within boxes provided to them from the former-president Donald Trump's residence at Mar-a-Lago.

On February 16, Trump announced that Jim Byron would be serving as senior advisor to acting archivist, Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

[44] These digitization partners have expanded the number of genealogical sources on their respective websites, such as ship passenger lists and military records.

Depending on a requestor's verifiable relation to a subject of interest, restricted files may be obtainable under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).

In 2010, the Archives, in a cooperative agreement with the University of Virginia Press, created Founders Online, a website for providing free public access to the papers and letters of seven of the nation's most influential founders: John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Alexander Hamilton, John Jay, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and George Washington.

[54][55] With enactment of the 2023 NDAA, NARA had been given a legal deadline of 60 days, for the Archivist to "commence establishment of a collection of unidentified anomalous phenomena.

"[56] According to NARA, the "Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena (UAP) Records Collection will consist of 'copies of all Government, Government-provided, or Government-funded records relating to unidentified anomalous phenomena, technologies of unknown origin, and non-human intelligence (or equivalent subjects by any other name with the specific and sole exclusion of temporarily non-attributed objects).

'"[57] NARA specified that the only allowed reasons for non-compliance by any party in the Federal government was per section 1843 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2024 or Executive Order 13526, signed by President Barack Obama in 2009.

[57] The law continued in its mandate for the Archivist and NARA, of the detailed records and materials of non-human intelligence origins, "which shall be transmitted to the National Archives in accordance with section 2107 of title 44, United States Code.

Across the United States, the National Archives maintains both research facilities and additional federal records centers (FRCs).

In many cases, the research rooms of regional archives are located at the same site as the federal records center, which is inaccessible to the public.

In April 2019 an unknown person set fire to an exterior wall of the archives building using a homemade incendiary device before firefighters were able to extinguish the flames.

"[61] In July 2007, the National Archives announced it would make copies of its collection of Universal Newsreels from 1929 to 1967 available for purchase through CreateSpace, an Amazon.com subsidiary.

Adding, "While the public can come to our College Park, Maryland, research room to view films and even copy them at no charge, this new program will make our holdings much more accessible to millions of people who cannot travel to the Washington, D.C.

In 2011, the National Archives initiated a WikiProject on the English Wikipedia to expand collaboration in making its holdings widely available through Wikimedia.

"[69][70] In January 2020, a Washington Post reporter noticed blurred protest signs in an image of the 2017 Women's March at the Archives' public exhibit.