WHAT TO KNOW ABOUT ATTENDING GEN-FED
WHERE & WHEN: The Genealogical Institute on Federal Records (Gen-Fed) is an annual week-long seminar held in person at the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) building in Washington, D.C. The institute is held usually the third or fourth week of September, depending on meeting room availability. For 2026, the dates are 30 August to 5 September. The program only may accept about 40 students, due to the limited seating available at the facility. The announcement of specific dates is found at the Gen-Fed News feed and the public Gen-Fed Facebook page.
WHAT: Gen-Fed is one of the premier institutes on U.S. records, focused on the documents of the federal government held at National Archives’ facilities, especially at Washington, D.C. and College Park, Maryland. Experienced instructors from the fields of professional genealogy and archives serve the students. Students enjoy both class time and opportunities for hands-on research and interaction with in-house archival specialists.
PROGRAM: The program includes a full five days of instruction onsite at Archives I in Washington D.C. including one day at Archives II in College Park, Maryland. A sample of the 2025 Gen-Fed program is available here: 2025 Gen-Fed Program Annotated.
ELIGIBILTY: Gen-Fed welcomes all, regardless of gender, race, religion, or other affiliations. Students must comply with the Code of Ethics, below. While we welcome repeat attendees, a five-year embargo period must pass before an alumnae may return in order to allow others a chance to participate.
AM I READY FOR GEN-FED?: The fast-paced intensive level of instruction is aimed at students with upper-intermediate to advanced experience in hands-on research in courthouses and state repositories and upper-level online searching. To find out if you are ready, try the self-evaluation test here.
REGISTRATION: Registration is held by drawing. Prospective applicants may apply to have their name drawn from the list of applicants, generally after an approximately one-week-long registration period (although it is sometimes longer). At the end of that time, a live online drawing for the available number of seats is held, plus a number of names for a waiting list for that year only. Gen-Fed does not maintain a waiting list for the following year. However, if multiple unsuccessful attempts are made, the new policy is that for people who have tried since 2021 will be allowed an extra entry into the drawing for every third, fourth, or more attempts to register. In other words, their name will go in multiple times for the current drawing. See the announcement here for details: https://www.gen-fed.org/gen-fed-dates-2026/. Registration dates will be announced on the Gen-Fed Facebook page and the Gen-Fed News feed. Subscribe to the news by scrolling to the bottom of the news feed and entering your email address.
TUITION: The program costs $750 per student, starting in 2026. Each student must provide their own transportation, housing, and board while in attendance. Gen-Fed does arrange for limited hotel accommodations at a reduced rate for registered students only. Payment may be submitted by check or PayPal once a registration seat has been confirmed. Do not send payment until your seat is confirmed after the drawing.
BONUS CONSULTATIONS: Students may opt to meet in person with Jonathan Deiss, specialist in military and land records. Consultations with Jon are one of the most popular events at the institute. He offers a pre-review of a genealogical question related to federal records and a 15-minute personal chat about a research plan. This service is an additional $30 (payable with tuition or separately before the institute begins).
WITHDRAWALS & FEES: If a student withdraws from Gen-Fed after accepting a registered seat, a charge of $100 is incurred for attendees who cancel between May 1 and July 1. Cancellations between July 2 and August 9 receive a half refund only (or $375). Cancellations on August 10 or after are not refunded. At the discretion of the administrators, a student who needs to cancel due to extreme unforeseen circumstances may be permitted to defer to the following year by paying a $50 transfer fee and agreeing to pay any additional charge if the tuition increases (these situations are rare).
SCHOLARSHIPS: Note that some societies offer scholarships for attendance at institutes, including to Gen-Fed. Offers vary, but generally these cover tuition and some cover a portion of travel and housing costs. Scholarship winners who chose Gen-Fed do not need to take part in the drawing, their seat is reserved. For more information see our page at https://www.gen-fed.org/home/scholarship/.
DEFERRALS: Students are not automatically deferred to the next year’s program. Deferrals are also not allowed on the basis of withdrawls for conflicts in social or work events (i.e., family wedding or work trips), job changes, housing moves, vacations, financial difficulties (i.e., not being able to afford travel and/or housing in the registration year), etc. Any other situation may be submitted to the Director at info@gen-fed.org.
CODE OF ETHICS & PROFESSIONAL CONDUCT: Each student will be required to agree to abide by the Institute’s Code of Ethics at the time of registration.
SAFETY & RISK OF COVID INFECTION: As with any travel or group gathering, participants understand there’s a chance of exposure to COVID, the flu, or other contagious ailments. However, we each have an obligation not to put others at risk, regardless of whether a student, faculty, or staff. The Gen-Fed COVID policy (in alignment with NARA’s COVID policy) can be viewed on the COVID Updates section linked at the top of each page on our website.
OTHER: Students must be willing to provide some personal information for security reasons for entrance into the federal facility. All personal information will be kept private by the Gen-Fed administration staff.
Updated 14 February 2026.