AARCS Statement Regarding the Proposed Closure of the Regional National Archives Facilities in San Bruno and Chicago

In June 2026, the National Archives and Research Administration (NARA) announced that it would close several regional facilities, including the National Archives at San Francisco (located in San Bruno, CA) and Chicago, within the next three years to centralize the archives as a means to encourage fiscal efficiency. 

The Asian American Research Center at Stanford (AARCS) is deeply concerned with the potential impact this proposal can have on ongoing and future scholarship on Asian American communities. Our mission is to support and make accessible innovative research that uplifts Asian Americans. The regional NARA facilities in San Bruno and Chicago contain archives that have been essential to past and ongoing historical scholarship of Asian American communities. San Bruno, in particular, is located in the San Francisco Bay Area, which is home to a large and diverse Asian American population. The archives in this facility reflect the rich history of Asian America, both nationally and locally. It notably houses the United States vs. Wong Kim Ark case files and Angel Island case files. The San Bruno facility has also been integral in preserving the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services alien files (“A-files”) for immigrants in the San Francisco and Honolulu areas born prior to 1910. Both San Bruno and Chicago also have case files that document the exclusion and incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II. These archives have been critical to historical scholarship on Asian Americans that could have been easily overlooked and forgotten. 

Furthermore, we believe that these regional facilities should remain an accessible resource for the broader public. Local community members visit these regional offices to learn about their personal histories. For example, Chinese Americans have been able to reconstruct their family’s early immigration history using the A-files and Angel Island case files in San Bruno. These personal histories have been shared to academics, serving as a basis for much of the pioneering historical scholarship on Asian Americans. These relationships continue to be important for current scholarship to be grounded in the lived experiences of Asian Americans.

AARCS lends our support to the Save OUR National Archives (SONA) and other historians, educators, organizations, and community members who are advocating to sustain and strengthen the accessibility of these regional facilities so that Asian American history is not lost for future generations. 

For more information about SONA and how you can support the advocacy efforts, please visit the SONA website.