<< The NARA proposal to revamp the system and fees for
providing copies of Military Service Records, Bounty-Land Warrant Applications Files, and
Pension Application Files has been published in the 25 April 2000 issue of the Federal
Register. Public comment is invited and should be directed to
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NARA Regulation Comment Desk
8601 Adelphi Road
College Park, MD 20740-6001
Fax: 301 713-7270
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The comment period closes on 26 June 2000. NARA prefers that you use either the postal
address or fax number to submit our comments rather than e-mail.
A complete copy of the Federal Register notice is available from the NARA Web site at
http://www.nara.gov/nara/fees-pro.html.
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The proposed Reproduction Fee Schedule covers a number of items, but the Military
Service Records, and the Pension and Bounty-Land Warrants are of the greatest concern to
genealogists. NARA proposes three major changes:
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1. The NATF Form 80 would be discontinued, to be replaced by two new forms: NATF Form 85
to request both Bounty-Land Warrant application files and Pension files (more than 75
years old), and NATF From 86 to request Military Service Records (more than 75 years
old).
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2. For all three types of files, NARA would no longer send a selection of pages, but
would send the complete file. This would eliminate the two-step process currently used and
hould be beneficial to most genealogists.
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3. The fees for all three types of files would be raised. For Military Service Records
the new fee would be $17.00, regardless of the number of pages included in the file. For
Bounty-land Warrants the fee would be $17.25, again without regard to the number of pages.
For Pension Files the fee would be $40.00, regardless of the number of pages.
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Finally, the proposal would go into effect on 1 September 2000, if approved.
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Many genealogists may consider the proposed fees to be excessive. NARA specifically
invites comment on the proposed fee schedule.
The FGS/NGS Records Preservation and Access Committee urges everyone
who wants to comment to carefully read the full proposal before
submitting comments.
The proposed fees are intended to cover the actual cost of locating,
copying and mailing the records, plus 10% as authorized by law, and are based on the
average size of the files. NARA states that the average for Military Service Records and
Bounty-land Applications is somewhere under 20 pages, while the average for full Pension
Files is 105 pages.
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The FGS/NGS Records Preservation and Access Committee will be looking at the NARA
proposal carefully, and will submit comments as appropriate.
Posting of this message to other mail lists is encouraged. A copy of this message will
also be available on the Records Preservation and Access page of the FGS Web site
http://www.fgs.org/fgs-recordsnews.htm>
and on the NGS Web site <
http://www.ngsgenealogy.org
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I feel a flat fee would benefit us all in that there would not be a
procedure of writing, then waiting for them to write back saying there
are X number of pages, please submit $xx and then having to wait for
the check to clear. Using a credit card does not allow you to know in
advance what the fees will be. However, such a huge increase is
reprehensible!
I think we should all make our thoughts known. After careful reading
of the proposal, I'm certainly going to write.
Regards,
Mary Ellen