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Here's the formula. Centuries ago, bad guys — and sometimes good guys — hoarded an unbelievable treasure. Instead of spending the treasure like sensible freewheelers, they hid it.

But they didn't want just any idiot to stumble across the treasure. It had to be found by someone worthy and extremely clever. So, the hoarders left complicated and cryptic clues about the treasure's location.

A modern-day hero comes along, accompanied by a beautiful accomplice, and while dodging bullets and thwarting super-sophisticated security systems, they manage to find the treasure and become gloriously rich.

Who doesn't like a treasure hunt? It's irresistible. Just glance over a list of best-sellers and blockbusters and you'll see the treasure hunt as a recurring theme.

Genealogists hunt for treasure. We sort through complicated clues and solve mysteries. Instead of dodging bullets, we might get chased by a dog while prowling through a cemetery.

And we don't usually break into locked buildings. I showed up at a research library and discovered the staff was on a team-building retreat. Breaking and entering certainly crossed my mind, but, like most genealogists, I deferred to the law-and-order route.

Forget plans for early retirement when hunting for genealogical treasures. The monetary payoff is slim to none.

The process of discovery and the richness of our ancestors' lives are our rewards. Learning more about history than we did in school and encountering interesting, distant relatives add to the payoff.

Genealogical treasures hide in attic trunks, in dusty courthouse basements, in cavernous libraries, in sleek, climate-controlled, state-of-the-art archives and in remote, overgrown cemeteries.

We follow the clues through all of these places, and eventually the clues lead us to one of the biggest treasure caches of all — the National Archives in Washington, D.C.

Many of us have made a pilgrimage to Washington to see the national sites; and we stood in line to see the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution and the Bill of Rights on display at the Archives.

Those documents are truly national treasures, but for genealogists, personal treasures are also at the archives.

President Franklin Roosevelt established the National Archives in 1934. Archival records are important records created by an institution or organization. The National Archives and Records Administration preserves important documents generated by the three branches of the federal government.

Efficiency and succinctness aren't standard operating procedures for our federal government. Less than 5 percent of the records the government generates yearly are considered to preserve in the archives.

Genealogists can find chests full of treasures in the millions of documents deemed worthy of preservation. Next week, I'll outline a map of the treasures at the National Archives.