Don Vaughn is about to have access to more than a million new files that could help him learn about his family history.

And while the records aren’t exactly at his fingertips, they’re a mere four hours east on Interstate 70.

On Saturday, the National Archives’ National Personnel Records Center in St. Louis will open 1.2 million files of former U.S. Navy and Marine Corps personnel who served between 1885 and 1939. This opening also will include 150 official files of “persons of exceptional prominence,” including former presidents, famous military leaders, celebrities, entertainers and professional athletes who served in the military and who died at least 10 years ago.

Up until now, the records have been off-limits to the public.

“I sure would like to see them,” said Vaughn, a member of the Douglas County Genealogical Society. “That’d be nice.”

The records are being made public because they now are officially the property of the National Archives, and not the armed forces. In 1999, the Pentagon and the National Archives decided in principle that the records deserved to be public. Last summer, the final details were worked out.

“For years, historians and genealogists have wanted access,” said Brian K. McGraw, the archival program’s assistant director. “But they weren’t public records. We could open them only to the veteran himself, to his next of kin or to his branch of the service.”

Vaughn, the Lawrence resident, said he’d like to see what the files contain on his wife’s father, who served in World War I.

“I’m not sure what these would have,” Vaughn said. “These pension files, there’s a lot about the family – when they were married, their children, that sort of thing.”

The center houses military records on 56 million individuals, beginning when the 19th century rolled over into the 20th. Earlier records – most of them handwritten ship rosters and regimental rolls – reside in Washington.

Still, most of the records housed in St. Louis will remain closed for years to come.

In their drawn-out negotiations, the Pentagon and the National Archives decided to keep the records sealed until 62 years past the date an individual left active service.

That puts most World War II records out of reach for several more years.

And because of complications from a fire at the records center in 1973, files of Army and Air Force veterans will be withheld even longer – until 2023. Coast Guard records will be unavailable until 2026.

In other cases, what archivist Eric Voelz calls “preservation issues” – fragile, crumbling paper – will keep some records on hold.

Douglas County, Kansas, Genealogical Society

The VIP records are sure to attract scholars and writers. In fact, early word of the opening has sparked premature interest. Voelz says: “I’ve already had historians and biographers calling to get in. I’m telling them that they have to wait until June 11.”

Once the researchers get in, they’ll be restricted to a 24-by-14-foot glass cubicle. The cubicle holds four desks, four chairs, a computer with Web access – and attendant Jackie Ostrowski, who’ll ensure that visitors handle the records with care.

Ostrowski has already tasted the excitement among those interested in military history.

“I was talking a few days ago to my physician, who’s a World War I buff,” she said, “and he went, ‘Oooohh!'”