The Kansas City metro hosts the third largest collection of federal records in the country — behind Washington, D.C., and St. Louis. In her first months as Archivist of the United States, Dr. Colleen Shogan is visiting the National Archives' storage facilities in the region.
Kansas City's facilities — some of which consist of underground caves — hold 770 million pages of federal documents and records. The public can access these records by visiting a research room at a National Archives facility. But in an increasingly digital world, most people aren't likely to do it that way.
That's why Shogan has made it a priority to digitize hundreds of years' worth of federal documents.
"That's how we'll reach most Americans," Shogan said.
The National Archives' digital catalog currently holds more than 200 million pages. It aims to have 500 million online by September 2026.
- Dr. Colleen Shogan, Archivist of the United States
