Family-history archives span paper, film, photographs, maps, electronic records, books, indexes, and digitized images. The statistics below show both the enormous scale of permanent archival holdings and the growing reach of online genealogy services. They also clarify which census records are available now, which remain restricted, and what paid search services provide.
Contents
- Permanent archive holdings
- New accessions and records-center capacity
- Digitization and online discovery
- Public research and access demand
- FamilySearch’s global genealogy infrastructure
- Census records and search services
Permanent archive holdings
The U.S. National Archives illustrates why family research can involve many different formats. Its permanent archival holdings include 13.5 billion pieces of paper, more than 725,000 artifacts, and more than 450 million feet of film. The film total is equivalent to more than 85,302 miles using the equivalent stated by the National Archives. These figures were reported on August 24, 2026, and describe the institution’s holdings rather than a single genealogy collection. (National Archives by the Numbers)
Visual materials form another substantial part of the collection. The National Archives reports 41 million photographs and 40 million aerial images. It also holds 10 million maps, charts, and architectural or engineering drawings. For family historians, these formats can provide context around people and places even when a conventional family record is not available. (National Archives by the Numbers)
Electronic records are measured on a similarly large scale. The National Archives reports more than 33 billion electronic records, identified on its page as 1 petabyte. That number sits alongside the paper, film, photographic, and cartographic totals; it should not be read as a conversion of those other holdings. (National Archives by the Numbers)
The physical footprint is also distributed. The National Archives operates 40 facilities in 17 states plus the District of Columbia and reported 2,344 staff members as of August 24, 2026. A family archive search may therefore depend on the record format, the responsible facility, and whether the material has been digitized. (National Archives by the Numbers)
New accessions and records-center capacity
Permanent holdings continue to grow. In 2024, the National Archives accessioned 88,498 cubic feet of analog records and 463 terabytes of electronic records into its permanent archival collection. These are separate measurements for different formats, so they should not be combined into one volume. (National Archives by the Numbers)
Records can also remain in federal storage before or alongside permanent archival transfer. National Archives Federal Records Centers held 26 million cubic feet of agency records as of August 24, 2026. More than 1 million cubic feet stored in those centers had been accessioned in place for the National Archives. The centers also held more than 334,000 cubic feet of classified records and more than 57,000 cubic feet of courtesy storage for the U.S. House and Senate. (National Archives by the Numbers)
The flow of material is large enough that annual handling figures matter. In 2023, the National Archives shelved 1 million cubic feet of new materials and disposed of more than 1.5 million cubic feet of records. Disposal is an agency records-management measure, not a claim that family-history material was removed from permanent collections. (National Archives by the Numbers)
Reference work adds another dimension to capacity. In 2023, the St. Louis operation handled more than 1.5 million Official Military Personnel File reference requests, while the National Archives completed more than 9.4 million IRS requests. These figures cover broad archival and administrative services, not only genealogy inquiries. (National Archives by the Numbers)
Digitization and online discovery
Digitization changes how researchers reach archives, but it does not make every holding searchable online. The National Archives Catalog contained 532,047,895 digitized pages as of August 24, 2026. The Digital Public Library of America contained 18.9 million National Archives digital images, and Wikipedia and Wikimedia Commons contained 3 million National Archives images. (National Archives by the Numbers)
Online visibility can extend far beyond an archive’s own catalog. National Archives records received 9.5 billion views across all Wiki platforms. The National Archives Catalog recorded 129 million page views in fiscal year 2025 and 87 million page views in fiscal year 2026 so far, measured through the page’s August 24, 2026 update. The fiscal-year figures are reported as separate periods and are not a full-year comparison. (National Archives by the Numbers)
The National Archives’ 2022–2026 strategic plan committed to digitizing 500 million pages and making them available through the Catalog by September 30, 2026. This is a target, not a statement that the target was met. The institution also reported 37 external websites, including the Catalog and presidential-library sites. (Digitization at the National Archives; National Archives by the Numbers)
| Online archive measure | Reported figure | Measurement period |
|---|---|---|
| National Archives Catalog digitized pages | 532,047,895 | August 24, 2026 |
| DPLA National Archives digital images | 18.9 million | August 24, 2026 |
| Wikimedia National Archives images | 3 million | August 24, 2026 |
| Catalog page views | 129 million | Fiscal year 2025 |
| Catalog page views so far | 87 million | Fiscal year 2026, through August 24, 2026 |
The National Archives reported a $695 million enacted budget for 2022, of which $477 million was appropriated. Those budget figures provide institutional context for preservation and access, but they are not a digitization cost per page. (National Archives by the Numbers)
Public research and access demand
In-person research remains part of archival access. The National Archives operates 27 public research rooms. Those rooms recorded 45,144 research visits and furnished 278,469 items in 2024. The institution also fulfilled 84,241 off-site reference requests that year. (National Archives by the Numbers)
Veterans records create especially visible demand. The National Archives fulfilled 1,603,870 requests for veterans records in 2024. That total is a request count, not a count of unique researchers or individual veterans, and it covers veterans-record services rather than all family-history research. (National Archives by the Numbers)
Public-facing institutions also attract visitors beyond research rooms. National Archives museums received 2,122,359 visitors in 2024. Education and public programs in Washington, D.C., had 21,770 attendees, while programs at presidential libraries and in New York and Kansas City had 623,344 attendees. These attendance statistics show public reach, but they do not identify how many attendees were researching family history. (National Archives by the Numbers)
The National Archives reported 19 blogs supporting public-facing archival information and engagement as of August 24, 2026. For a genealogy reader, this matters because access includes finding aids, explanations, and institutional updates as well as the underlying records. (National Archives by the Numbers)
FamilySearch’s global genealogy infrastructure
FamilySearch reports a genealogy-specific digital infrastructure with global reach. On September 8, 2026, it listed 16.93 billion searchable names in historical records, 5.89 billion digital images, and 675,938 digital books online. It also listed 6,642 FamilySearch Centers and 25.99 million monthly visits. (Company Facts)
Its Family Tree figures describe a separate collaborative environment: 4.24 billion sources and 1.96 billion people were listed in the Family Tree on the same company-facts page. These totals should not be treated as counts of unique archival documents or verified individuals in a single historical collection. (Company Facts)
FamilySearch says more than 10,000 record custodians, including churches and archives, have partnered with it for preservation services. It also says 5 billion images have been protected for future generations through its archive services and that its record collections represent more than 175 countries. These are statements from FamilySearch’s current archive-services page; they are not independent verification of the underlying legacy claims. (Free Archive Services for Digitizing and Managing Your Collections)
Together, the figures show why “family archives” includes both local collections and large international platforms. A searchable name, a digital image, a book, a source citation, and a Family Tree person are different types of objects, even when they appear in the same research workflow.
Census records and search services
The National Archives makes individual U.S. census records from 1790 through 1950 available for genealogical research. U.S. decennial census records remain confidential for 72 years before public release. The 1950 Census was released by the National Archives on April 1, 2022. Under the stated release rule, the 1960 Census is scheduled to become available in April 2032; that is a forecast based on the rule, not a released record set. (Genealogy FAQs)
The 1890 Census has a particularly limited surviving record base. At least 6,160 names are indexed on the surviving 1890 U.S. population schedules. The surviving population-schedule fragments were microfilmed as National Archives publication M407 in 3 rolls, while the corresponding index was microfilmed as publication M496 in 2 rolls. (Genealogy FAQs)
When a public record is unavailable or a researcher needs a specialized search, the Census Bureau’s Age Search Service covers 11 decennial census years from 1910 through 2020. The service charges $155 for a search of one census for one person, plus $10 for each full schedule requested for that same person. The normal processing time is about 3 to 4 weeks. (Age Search Service)
These census statistics define both the reach and the limits of family-history archives: some decades are openly available, some records remain subject to the 72-year confidentiality period, and some historical schedules survive only in fragments.