The Military Personnel Records Center houses United States Armed Forces military service records dating from the late 1800s to the early 2000s. A major fire on July 12, 1973, destroyed approximately one-third of its 52 million official military personnel files. The facility was originally located in Overland, Missouri before relocating to Spanish Lake, Missouri in 2011. While located at 9700 Page Avenue, in Overland, the military personnel records center building served as the de facto headquarters for the entire National Personnel Records Center, and was often referred to simply as "NPRC". After relocation to Spanish Lake, the designation "Military Personnel Records Center" was dropped from most official correspondence, with the military records building in Spanish Lake thereafter referred to as the "National Personnel Records Center". The term "National Personnel Records Center" may now refer to both the physical military records building in Spanish Lake, as well as an overall term for the National Archives federal records complexes located in St. Louis.
Civilian Personnel Records Center
The Civilian Personnel Records Center houses the Official Personnel Folders and Employee Medical Folders of separated United States Federal civilian employees. CPR also houses personnel documents that date back to the mid-nineteenth century, although the bulk of the collection covers the period from 1900 to present. The medical records of military family members treated at Army, Air Force and Coast Guardmedical facilities are also stored here. The Civilian Personnel Records Center was first known as the "St. Louis Federal Records Center" before becoming part of the National Personnel Records Center in 1966. The Civilian Personnel Records Center was located on Winnebago Street in downtown St. Louis, Missouri, and was known as "NPRC-CPR". The facility later shifted locations to Boulder Boulevard in Valmeyer, Illinois and became known as the "NPRC Annex".
National Archives at St. Louis
Housed in the same building as the Military Personnel Records Center is the National Archives at St. Louis which is a regional archives considered part of National Archives research services and separate from the majority of correspondence work handled by the main part of MPRC. The National Archives at St. Louis is the legal custodian of archived military and civilian personnel records and related personnel data series records. These files are considered open to the public and separate from the military personnel files which are considered protected under the Privacy Act of 1974. Archival records at St. Louis include:
The National Archives at St. Louis maintains an on-site preservation office for the upkeep of locally maintained records, specifically those records which were damaged by the 1973 National Archives fire. The St. Louis facilities maintain several conservation and preservation labs which deal with fire damaged records as well as records affected by age and mold.
The director of the National Personnel Records Center is usually a senior federal civil service employee, rated as a GS-14/15 or as a member of the Senior Executive Service. Office of Personnel Management archives list the directorship of NPRC as established in 1966; prior to this time, the two separate records centers for civilian and military personnel records were considered as separate director positions under the General Services Administration. The term "National Personnel Records Center Director" only came into being when the two buildings were administratively merged in 1966. National Personnel Records Center Directors
