National Archives

The National Archives is a pre-war building that houses an agency that was charged with preserving and documenting government and historical records. The building is relatively undamaged, but the documents and records have mostly been destroyed or ruined. It has also become home to a patrol of super mutants, centaurs and robots, some of which have personalities. The patrol of Super Mutants have placed many traps around to keep out unwanted visitors.

It also houses the Declaration of Independence, the Magna Carta and the Bill of Rights. The Declaration of Independence is in a small room behind a robot who claims to be the second signatory of the Declaration.

Location
The National Archives are in the northeast part of The Mall. It's east of Museum of History and north of Museum of Technology (and their corresponding Museum Station exits), across the Mall battlefield.

The Mall Northeast station is across the street from the back door of the National Archives. You can get in that way, but you will not get credit for having "discovered" it and thus will not be able to fast travel back to it, so it is probably best to walk around to the front door.


 * The Mall Northeast station is just across the underground platform from the Penn. Ave South station entrance. Penn. Ave South, which in turn is a short walk from the Metro Central station. Metro Central is part of the all-underground route which extends from Collapsed Car Tunnel (at the back of the GNR Building) to the Anacostia Crossing Station (at Rivet City). If you haven't been to GNR yet, the Collapsed Car Tunnel is a short walk from the Dupont Circle station which comes from Chevy Chase East, which can be reached above ground from the Farragut West Station.

The Building
In the first room of the building, there is a computer mounted on the wall named "National Archives Guess and Win!" with a trivia game with questions related to American history. Answering all 8 questions correctly gives the player an Archives Prize Voucher, which can be redeemed at the Prize Redemption Terminal next to the trivia terminal. The player may choose between 3 different flavored Mentats: Glamorously Grape, Brilliantly Berry, and Observantly Orange. Answering a question incorrectly will reset all questions, but the player can reattempt them with no apparent penalty. The correct answers, in order, are "The Second Continental Congress," "Thirteen," "John Hancock," "56," "Ratification," "King George III," "Happiness," and "Thomas Jefferson." There are also 6 vouchers in a locked safe in the archives administrators office. (Some have reported that that terminal is highlighted over he correct answer at the beginning so simply selecting whatever is highlighted would be correct.)

Sydney is located in the rotunda protected from all sides by mines. She yells at you to come help her fight off the mutants and to avoid the mines. When you reach her location, a squad of Super Mutants spawn outside the door and start attacking. When you finish off the first squad another tougher squad of Super Mutant Brutes will appear with either a Minigun or Missile Launcher. if Sydney is killed during the fight with the super mutants, you are able to pick up her 10mm "ultra" submachine gun but will have to open the secret elevator manually by accessing Sydney's remote uplink (computer terminal) which should be somewhere close by.

After fighting off the mutants, you may be able to join up with Sydney to find the Declaration of Independence. She will then open up a secret elevator shaft that allows you to skip a section filled with Super Mutants. (If you get the Declaration of Independence without her, she will disappear and you will not be able to purchase items from her in Underworld. If you don't want her getting in the way while you clear it of enemies, make sure you talk to her before you enter the Archival Stronghold.)

Traps
In the ladies restroom on the ground floor of the West wing, a burned corpse is face-down in a toilet with a battery and wires attached to it, apparently electrocuted. If you attempt to activate the toilet, the character will be shocked and take 25 points of damage. You may retrieve 35 Microfusion Cells without taking any harm if your repair skill is 20 or higher. The trap itself is fitted inside the toilet cistern mounted on the rear wall; you can move the skeleton, walk right up to the toilet without causing damage to yourself, then just look into the cistern and remove the Microfusion Cells.

In the room with the door to the Archival Strongroom, there is a terminal that has been rigged with a grenade. It's very easy to see since the back is pried off and there is an antenna sticking out of the top.

There are also numerous physical traps with swinging engines, battering rams, and lumps of meat. These traps are also sometimes combined with explosives, particularly on staircases. A particularly nasty one is on the East stairs up from the lower level, especially if you have Light Step and are trying to keep Sydney alive. First, when you go up the stairs, you will release a swinging bull's head which will hit Sydney, then if you get by that, when Sydney starts up the stairs, she somehow sets off a Grenade Bouquet which is above the stairs beyond the next landing. (It is not clear what sets them off, since nobody is near them. Maybe a bug?) You can have Sydney wait while you move ahead and disarm them (again, assuming you have Light Step). If you approach these stairs by going East from the entry lobby, they are probably easier to disarm.

Mines are littered throughout the site and are worth collecting either to sell or to use to defend Sydney by placing them in the entrance way before walking up to her.

The National Archives

 * Duck and Cover! located in a corner in the NW corner of the large NW room on the lower level of The National Archives, next to a cash register and two missiles (in the room with all the empty book shelves).
 * Four Pre-War Books in the middle of the same area as the Duck and Cover book. They are on the shelf that is leaning onto 3 others. If not there, look around on the nearby floor.
 * Six additional Archives Prize Vouchers located in an upstairs office to the east of the area where you meet Sydney. They are in a safe.
 * A Pre-War Book - Go through the door on the far left of the entry room, through the hole in the wall, and it is by itself on the top shelf of the wooden shelves to the left. A door to some stairs going up is on the other side of the shelves.

Archival Secure Wing East

 * The Bill of Rights inside a safe, located inside the first vault protected by two turrets to the west. It is protected by two average locked doors.
 * Lying, Congressional Style next to the safe with the Bill of Rights in it.
 * Magna Carta inside a second vault protected by two turrets to the East. It is behind one average locked door.

Note: after completing your business with Button, you can proceed to a room with eight Protectron pods. The last one on the right can be activated, but instead of talking it plays the Galaxy News Radio station. A terminal that is accessed earlier in The National Archives refers to an employee replacing the Protectron's voice box as a prank.

Archives Sub-Basement

 * Duck and Cover!, Metal Armor, Metal Helmet, Mini Nuke, and a Stealth Boy at the broken generator behind a Very Hard locked gate in the Sub-Basement. It is located immediately before you enter the Archives Secure Wing East.
 * Sheet Music Book in the first room after you come down the stairs to the Sub-Basement. It is on the bottom shelf of a rack on the north west wall, second in from the corner.

Note: If you do not have a lock pick skill of 100, you can simply shoot Duck and Cover! with a pistol until it gets close enough to grab through the fence, another option is to chuck grenades at it getting you the mini nuke as well (save before you do either of these).

Archival Strongroom

 * Declaration of Independence located behind Button Gwinnett. The door can only be unlocked from a computer terminal in the same room.
 * Tales of a Junktown Jerky Vendor located in the same room as the Declaration of Independence.
 * Button's Wig on a small desk in the same room as the eponymous robot.

Related Quests
Stealing Independence