Office of Public Records

The Secretary of the District of Columbia oversees the Office of Public Records which includes three divisions:
  • The District of Columbia Archives holds the historical and permanently valuable records of the DC government such as birth and death records, wills, land records, and marriage records. Its holdings include the birth certificate of Duke Ellington and the wills of Alexander Graham Bell, Francis Scott Key, Dolley Madison, Woodrow Wilson, Oliver Wendell Holmes, and Frederick Douglass.  Also see this fact sheet.
  • The Public Records Center collects and stores the records of the DC government in accordance with the records retention schedules proscribed by law.  
  • Library of Government Information collects, stores, and maintains studies, reports, monographs, periodicals, books and other publications about the DC government.
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1300 Naylor Court, NW, built as a horse barn in 1904, currently houses the DC Archives.