The delegation of the Archive of the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan, consisting of the Director of the Archive A. Mustafina, Head of the Archive Fund Formation Service G. Mukazhanova and Head of the Digitalization and Development of Electronic Archives Service K. Kabarova are in Washington at the invitation of the US National Archives and Records Administration (NARA). On March 4-5, the Kazakh delegation visited the US National Archives, which was founded in 1934 by President Franklin D. Roosevelt and since then serves as the custodian of documents and materials created during the activities of the US government. As part of the visit to NARA, a meeting was held with the Deputy Archivist of the United States William J. Bosanko. Mr. William J. Bosanko spoke about the structure of NARA, which combines the management functions of the US archival business and the production part for the preservation, acquisition and use of documents of the National Archives. During the meeting, Director of the Archive of the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan A. Mustafina spoke about the activities of the Archive and focused on issues of bilateral cooperation. Thus, in November 2014, the Archive entered into a cooperation agreement with the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Additionally in February of 2017, employees of the Archive of the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan visited archival and library institutions in the United States for the first time. In 2022, NARA Research Service Executive Director Chris Naylor took part in the first Congress of Archivists of Kazakhstan. As the Director noted, every year researchers from the United States, both already famous scientists and yet master’s degree students from American universities, work in the Presidential Archive of Kazakhstan. For example, Donald Reilly, a professor from the United States and author of scientific research on the Soviet period, worked at the Archive over a long period. Separately, A. Mustafina focused on the key topic on the agenda of the upcoming II Congress of Archivists of Kazakhstan with international participation, “Heritage Institutions on the way to Sustainable Development of Society,” which will be held on October 1-4 in Almaty. In addition, she invited experts to participate in the Congress on the following topics: the impact of a changing climate on the archival environment, the role of heritage institutions in the system of international law and in the formation of the historical memory of society, professional archival education and data management systems.

In order to exchange experience on the acquisition of archival funds, to get acquainted with the conditions for the preservation of documents, including restoration work, the delegation of the Kazakhstan’s Presidential Archive visited the research complex and scientific laboratories of NARA. The greatest interest was aroused by the work of the Heritage Department, which has its own scientific laboratory, where scientists conduct research on the conservation and preservation of various materials, preventing their degradation during the aging process. Another area of NARA's research focuses on rapidly evolving digital technologies. Research in this direction allows us to better understand the rate of change and obsolescence of some data storage formats. The delegation fr om Kazakhstan also visited the NARA Museum, wh ere the most important documents of US history are kept: the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. They are housed in the Rotunda for the Charters of Freedom and are widely available to the public of both American citizens and international tourists. Here are also held in trust public records of ordinary citizens, such as military personnel, who served in various periods, and even, canceled checks from the purchase of Alaska. A separate program was prepared for the Embassy of the Republic of Kazakhstan in the USA. Employees of the Archive of the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan held a presentation on the activities of the Archive, as well as a training seminar for employees of the embassy on issues of departmental storage and documentation support for foreign based institutions of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Kazakhstan.