What's an Archives?
档案馆是什么
Tr. Chunfengqiushui
An archives is a place where people can go to gather firsthand facts, data, and evidence from letters, reports, notes, memos, photographs, and other primary sources.
所谓档案馆，就是人们能够从信件、报告、笔记、回忆录、照片和其他原始资料收集第一手事实、数据、证据的地方纸质档案盒。
The National Archives is the U.S. Government’s collection of documents that records important events in American history. The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) is the Government agency that preserves and maintains these materials and makes them available for research.
国家档案馆（The National Archives）是美国政府收集记载美国重要历史事件文档的机构纸质档案盒。国家档案和文件管理局（NARA）是保藏、维护这些资料并利用这些资料进行研究的政府机构。
Whether or not you realize it, you probably have an archives in your home. It might be in a filing cabinet in your study, a box in the basement, a chest in the attic. It is your personal archives: a collection of material that records important events from your family’s history.
您是否意识到，在您家里或许就有一个档案馆纸质档案盒。它可能在您书房的档案橱柜里，也可能在地下室的某个盒子里，或者是阁楼的某个箱子里。这就是您的个人档案馆：一个汇集了记录着您家重要历史事件资料的地方。
Both a family’s archives and the nation’s archives
●save items to serve as proof that an event occurred;
●explain how something happened, whether for personal, financial, or sentimental reasons;
●may be located in more than one place.
无论是家庭档案馆还是国家档案馆纸质档案盒，
都保存纸质档案盒了曾经发生事件的证据；
能解释某些事物是如何发生的纸质档案盒，无论其是由于个人原因，还是财务原因或者情感原因；
可能散落在更多的地方纸质档案盒。
There are ways that your family archives and the National Archives, together, tell your family’s story. For example, your family’s archives might contain the final certificate for your great-great-grandfather’s homestead; the National Archives may hold the original applications for the homestead. Your family’s archives may include a photograph from the day your grandmother became a U.S. citizen; the National Archives contains the Government applications for naturalization of persons wishing to become U.S. citizens.
您的家庭档案和国家档案结合起来能够告诉您家庭的历史纸质档案盒。例如，您的家庭档案可能包含着您的高曾祖父的地契；国家档案可能保存有此田产的最初交易记录。您的家庭档案可能包含着您的祖母成为美国公民那一天的照片；国家档案保存着移民欲成为美国公民的正式申请文件。
Personal Archives Versus Federal Archives（个人档案与联邦档案）
Every day Government agencies create new records that might be transferred to the National Archives. NARA’s holdings are created either by or for the Federal Government. The material comes from the legislative, executive, and judicial branches. Whereas your family’s archives is personal, those held by the National Archives are official. Your family’s archives might include your birth certificate. The National Archives holds the original, signed “birth certificate” for our nation—the Declaration of Independence.
政府机构每一天都产生可能移交给国家档案局的新档案纸质档案盒。国家档案和文件管理局所拥有的档案既是由联邦政府所产生的，也是为联邦政府所服务的。这些档案来自立法机关、行政机关和司法机关。但是您的家庭档案是个人的，而国家档案馆所拥有的这些档案却是官方的。您的家庭档案可能包含着您的出生证明。国家档案馆所拥有的原始的、已签署的“出生证明”是我们国家的《独立宣言》。
Your family’s archives are available only to your and family members. The holdings in the National Archives are available to almost everyone.
您的家庭档案只有您和您的家人能够看到，而国家档案馆所拥有的档案是几乎每一个人都能够看到纸质档案盒。
About Our Nation's Records（关于国家的档案）
More than 9* percent of the records in the National Archives are declassified, meaning they are available to all researchers. NARA employs approximately *,000 full- and part-time employees to help facilitate the use of its holdings. Many of the records in the National Archives are available on microfilm, and more than 12*,000 digital images of documents can be seen through NARA’s Archival Research Catalog (ARC).
国家档案馆超过9*%的文件不再是机密文件，这意味着所有的研究者都可以利用这些文件纸质档案盒。国家档案和文件管理局雇佣了约*000名全职、兼职员工以便利这些文档的利用。国家档案馆的许多文档可以微缩胶片的形式获得，而且通过国家档案和文件管理局的“档案目录查询系统”（Archival Research Catalog，ARC）可查阅超过12*，000份文件的数字图像。
Some of the oldest materials in the National Archives are on parchment and date back to the founding of the United States of America. These include the records of the Continental and Confederation Congresses. Some of the more recent holdings include electronic files transferred from the Department of State and are available online through Access to Archival Databases (AAD).
国家档案馆最为古老的一些档案是记载于羊皮纸上且形成于美国建国时候纸质档案盒。这些档案记录了大陆和联邦议会。包括国务院（Department of State）形成的电子文件在内的一些新近档案可通过“档案数据库检索系统”（Access to Archival Databases，AAD）在线查阅。
Preservation of Records（档案的保存）
To help preserve material, NARA stores archives records in acid-free folders within acid-free boxes that are placed in dark spaces with consistent temperature and humidity.
为了有助于档案保存，国家档案和文件管理局将档案保存于放置在恒温、湿度稳定的黑暗空间里无酸档案盒（acid-free box）的无酸档案夹（acid-free folder）里纸质档案盒。
For many years Federal records were created on paper and stored in files and boxes. These days electronic records are created by government agencies at an astounding rate. To meet this challenge, the National Archives is finding news ways to manage and preserve electronic materials. Learn more about our Electronic Records Archives initiative.
多年以来，联邦档案都是以纸质形式产生，并被保存在档案夹和档案盒里纸质档案盒。现在政府机构所产生的电子档案以惊人的速度增加。为了适应这项挑战，国家档案馆正在找寻新的方法以管理和保存这些电子档案。欲知更多信息，请参考“电子档案”（Electronic Records Archives）。
Anyone over the age of 1* with valid identification can conduct research in any of the NARA facilities.
任何年满1*周岁、持有有效身份证件的人都能在国家档案和文件管理局的所有机构进行其研究纸质档案盒。