Four Native organizations are calling on the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) to conduct meaningful consultation with Tribal Nations before closing its archival facilities in Chicago and San Bruno, California, warning that the closures could make critical federal records more difficult for Native families and communities to access.
In a joint letter sent Oct. 14, 2026, the National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition, Native Organizers Alliance, National Congress of American Indians and Native American Rights Fund expressed concern that the planned closures were being considered without meaningful Tribal consultation.
The organizations said the records housed at the facilities are essential resources for boarding school survivors and their descendants, Tribal Nations, Tribal Historic Preservation Offices, Native researchers and families seeking information about their relatives and communities.
For many Native families, the records provide more than historical documentation. They can contain names, personal experiences and correspondence that help reconnect relatives and recover histories disrupted by generations of federal policies.
Many of the documents are part of Record Group 75, which contains records of the Bureau of Indian Affairs. The collections include materials related to federal Indian boarding schools, Indian agencies, education, enrollment, allotment, land and other federal policies affecting Native people.
“Access to these records can be part of the healing process,” said Nikki Santos, a citizen of the Coeur d’Alene Tribe and chief executive officer of the National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition.
“For families and communities seeking answers about what happened to their relatives, these documents can help restore pieces of stories that were separated, hidden, or lost across generations,” Santos said. “We have a responsibility to protect that access and to listen to the people whose histories these records hold.”
Judith LeBlanc, executive director of Native Organizers Alliance, said access to historical records is essential to understanding the experiences of Native people today.
“To understand who Native people are today, we must understand the injustices our ancestors endured in the past,” LeBlanc said.
LeBlanc characterized the closures as “an act of book burning,” arguing that they could shield the public from the country’s history. She said Tribal Nations have a right to meaningful consultation and Native people have a right to know the truth as part of the healing process.
Larry Wright Jr., executive director of the National Congress of American Indians, emphasized the federal government’s responsibility to preserve records documenting its relationship with Tribal Nations.
“These are not ordinary government files—they are the evidence of treaties, land transactions, federal decisions, and commitments that define the United States’ trust and treaty obligations to our Nations,” Wright said.
Wright warned that closing the facilities and moving their collections away from the communities and regions they serve could make the records less accessible to Tribal Nations whose histories and rights they document.
“The government cannot walk away from the historical record of its obligations to Indian Country,” Wright said. “These records must be preserved, protected, and accessible to Tribal Nations for generations to come.”
John Echohawk, executive director of the Native American Rights Fund, said the records are critical to protecting Tribal sovereignty and holding the federal government accountable for its obligations.
“These archives hold documents and records that sovereign Tribal Nations rely on to vindicate the rights of Tribal members and to hold the federal government accountable for its trust and treaty obligations,” Echohawk said.
Echohawk said the proposed closures threaten Tribal Nations’ ability to access those records and argued that the historical record of the federal government’s relationship with tribes should become more accessible, not less.
The four organizations are asking NARA to include Tribal Nations and affected communities in discussions about the future of the Chicago and San Bruno facilities and the collections they house.
They said decisions about where federal Indian records are stored, how they are preserved and how the public can access them directly affect the communities whose histories those records document.
For boarding school survivors and descendants, access to federal records can be particularly significant in understanding the experiences of relatives who attended institutions designed to separate Native children from their families, languages and cultures.
The organizations said preserving these materials is ultimately about more than archival collections. It is about protecting family histories, supporting Tribal communities’ efforts to establish the truth and ensuring future generations can access records documenting the federal government’s actions and obligations.
The joint letter is available at the National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition’s website.
