CALL held its first Business Meeting of the year online on February 19, 2025. Vice President/President-Elect Jill Meyer presided over the meeting in President Philip Johnson’s absence. CALL members donated to Cradles to Crayons in advance of the Community Service Committee volunteer event on March 15, 2025, at 1:30pm. Lexis once again generously donated door prizes.
Speaker: Elise Fariello, Archivist, National Archives and Record Administration (NARA)
Elise Fariello, Archivist at the National Archives at Chicago, has been with NARA since she finished her master’s degree in public history at American University in 2013. Elise originally worked at the NARA offices in Washington, D.C. and College Park, Maryland. She moved to the Chicago location in 2016.
Elise first summarized NARA’s 43 locations in 17 states plus the District of Columbia and highlighted their holdings. She noted that their flagship location on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. is the most famous location, and the D.C. location holds the records of the United States Supreme Court, pre-WWI military records, and District of Columbia courts. She added that the nearby College Park, Maryland location has modern military records and records of federal agencies. The regional offices have records from federal agency activities within the states, court records, and other records from agencies whose headquarters are located outside of Washington, D.C. including the United States Coast Guard and the Bureau of Indian Affairs.
She explained how materials get to NARA locations. All federal documents are governed by a record schedule for when materials are transferred to NARA or destroyed. Between the document’s creation by an agency and ultimate ownership by and placement with NARA, the Federal Records Center locations store records still owned by the agencies.
Elise pointed out that NARA holds presidential records since the Herbert Hoover administration and manages the presidential libraries since Hoover with the notable exception of the Obama library. She explained that the planned Obama Center will be operated by the Obama Foundation and is separate from the Obama Presidential Library run by NARA in a temporary location in Hoffman Estates, IL. NARA will loan materials or provide digital surrogates to the Obama Foundation but will retain ownership of the records which will eventually be stored in College Park, MD.
Elise detailed the NARA location in Chicago where she works. NARA’s Chicago location holds the records of the Federal district and circuit courts and 85 federal agencies in Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, and Wisconsin. She warned CALL members that there is less material about Chicago than one would expect because records were lost in the Chicago fire. She noted that the Chicago location has some donated papers of federal judges including Judge James Parsons, the first black federal judge in the country.
Elise then offered some advice for using NARA’s online catalog. She noted that the catalog will get users a description for all holdings only to the series level. She noted that the catalog will usually alert a user if the file is available online. Otherwise, NARA staff can make copies or users can come onsite to view documents.
Elise talked about digitization efforts at NARA. NARA has a strategic plan to digitize records by 2026, but not much is currently digitized. She said that Ancestry.com and FamilySearch.org have digitized NARA records under an agreement to eventually give those digital files to NARA for greater access. At the Chicago location, NARA has digitized criminal dockets from the Northern District of Illinois. Going forward, a 2019 memorandum mandates that agencies maintain their records electronically and transfer those electronic files to NARA.
Acknowledging that court records are the NARA holdings law librarians are most likely to use, Elise provided more information and advice on finding and using those records. Elise noted that, in 2011, NARA decided that it would no longer retain all civil court records from after 1970 although minutes, orders, and dockets will be kept. Exhibits and transcripts are often not considered permanent and are not saved. She also acknowledged that some cases may still be owned by the court and stored in the Federal Records Center.
Elise advised librarians that a case reporter citation is meaningless to NARA staff and warned that searching by geography may be challenging because things may be held in Chicago that are not about Chicago. She suggested searching more specifically for the name of the court. Elise provided information about record groups which are universal designations across NARA locations. Record group (RG) 21 is the designation for records of the United States District Court. Bankruptcy court material since 1970 is in RG578. Pre-1970 material will still be in RG21. The Circuit Court of Appeals is RG276. Every item has a unique National Archives Identifier (NAID). Cases through about mid 20th century are generally kept in case number order. As an example of a pre-1970 case, Elise showed the members how to find records of the prosecution of William Haywood and the International Workers of the World, a radical labor union that protested the United States’ involvement in WWI.
For records beginning around 1970, NARA staff need a transfer or accession number—NARA uses the terms interchangeably—to find the files. The numbers refer to the numbered boxes in which courts sent their records to the Federal Records Center. There is a web-based Federal Record Lookup available to find transfer numbers for some courts, including the Northern District of Illinois. For courts not covered by the lookup system, however, a user must contact the court. As an example of a post-1970 case requiring the transfer or accession number to access, Elise showed CALL members how to research a case involving the death of Fred Hampton, leader in the Black Panther Party. Finally, Elise warned that there is no index for Chicago cases after 1978. If you don’t already have the case number, she suggested that you contact the court for other information.
Elise took questions from CALL members and offered her email for further questions.
Board & Committee Announcements
On behalf of Mentorship and Career Development, Carrie Port announced a trivia happy hour on March 11 from 5:00-7:00pm at From Here On Food Hall and Market in the Old Post Office.
On behalf of Community Service, Kristen Naik announced that the committee would hold a community service event on March 15 from 1:30-3:30 at Cradles to Crayons, 2500 W. Bradley Place.
On behalf of Government Relations, Eugene Guidice announced that the Committee has an advocacy webinar tentatively set for March 27. Attendees will hear from public librarians about lobbying for the Illinois Library Association and a AALL representative will talk about the difference between advocacy and lobbying.
The Grants and Chapter Awards committee announced that Continuing Education grants are available, and CALL will pay the entire fee for an upcoming Diversity Summit for the first 20 people who email Mike McMillan. The committee also announced that they are accepting nominations for CALL awards. Members are welcome to nominate themselves and the nomination form is on the CALL website. Those with questions should email Mandy Lee.
On behalf of Public Relations, Matt Timko asked members for input and feedback on a potential CALL social media policy and posting guidelines.
On behalf of Nominations, Scott Vanderlin announced the slate of this year’s executive board nominees, thanked those who submitted nominations, and thanked the nominees for volunteering to run. The nominees for Vice President/President-Elect are Jesse Bowman and Todd Hillmer. The nominees for Secretary are Julie Melvin and Joanne Kiley. The nominees for Director are Kristen Naik and Keith Klein. Voting will be open through March 15th.
Door Prize drawing and close of meeting
Vice President/President-Elect Jill Meyer thanked Lexis and Bridget McMillan for the door prizes. The winners were Rachel Tomei and Leah Whitesel.
The meeting adjourned at 1:09pm.