The archives hold the original wills of Dolley Madison, Francis Scott Key, Frederick Douglass, Henry Adams, Woodrow Wilson, Alexander Graham Bell and Louis D.
[4][1] Philip W. Oglvie was made the original director of the office, and a National Archives employee named Dorothy S. Provine joined as D.C.'s first archivist.
After a lengthy search through government-owned properties that could be economically adapted into an archive—the weight of densely packed archival documents requires strong structural support—Oglvie located the former B.F. McCaully & Co. Tally-Ho Stables in an alley named Naylor Court, off of 9th Street NW in Shaw).
Construction work to accommodate the project began in 1988 and was completed in 1990, leading to disruption among residents, artists, and informal businesses that occupied the alley up to that point.
[6][7] Within a few years, the District of Columbia's financial crisis forced severe reductions in funding and staffing at the archives.