Family Tree Friday: Confederate prisoner of war records

Continuing the discussion of Confederate records, another major portion of material in Record Group 109, War Department Collection of Confederate Records, includes records about Confederate prisoners of war.  Of particular note, these are actually records created by Union military prisons, compiled or maintained by the Office of the Commissary General of Prisoners in the U.S. War … Continue reading Family Tree Friday: Confederate prisoner of war records

Family Tree Friday: Confederate hospital records

Confederate records that survived the Civil War cover a variety of aspects and functions of both the Confederate government and its armed forces.  One of the major components of the War Department Collection of Confederate Records includes records of various military hospitals that were established in several Southern states during the war.  Administered by the Confederate … Continue reading Family Tree Friday: Confederate hospital records

Birds of a Feather Flock Together: Blogger Meet-Up at the Genealogy Fair!

Are you a genealogy blogger?  Do you have questions for NARA, whether it be about blogging or records?  Then we have the event for you!  This year at the 7th Annual Genealogy Fair, The National Archives will be hosting a meet-up to bring together genealogist bloggers and spark some good conversation about the records you … Continue reading Birds of a Feather Flock Together: Blogger Meet-Up at the Genealogy Fair!

Become Your Family's Detective! 7th Annual Genealogy Fair

Are you your family's detective?  Have you always wanted to learn more about your family tree?  Join us as we host the 7th Annual Genealogy Fair on April 20-21, 2011, and highlight the diversity of Federal records available for family history research. National Archives' staff members, historians, and genealogy professionals will lead this year's workshops … Continue reading Become Your Family's Detective! 7th Annual Genealogy Fair

Family Tree Friday: An overview of Confederate Records

Since we are about to embark on the 150th anniversary of the Civil War--various activities commemorating events leading up to the war have already taken place around the country since January--it seems useful to highlight some of the major records we have available at the National Archives.  Let's start with an overview of Confederate records.  … Continue reading Family Tree Friday: An overview of Confederate Records

Family Tree Friday: The 1940 Census

Today's Family Tree Friday is brought to you by Constance Potter, Archivist in the Archives I Research Support Branch. The 1940 census opens on April 2, 2012. For the first time, the census will be released digitally, not on microfilm. As with other censuses, this one reflects the previous decade of the 1930s and the … Continue reading Family Tree Friday: The 1940 Census

Family Tree Friday: How to make sense out of a Civil War pension file…with some online help!

Have you ever looked at a Civil War pension file and wondered, what does this all REALLY mean? More specifically, have you ever tried to figure out what each document or slip of paper actually was, where it came from, and what relevance it had to the file as a whole?  Believe it or not, … Continue reading Family Tree Friday: How to make sense out of a Civil War pension file…with some online help!

Agenda for the DC-Area Researchers Meeting on February 18th

Have you marked your calendar to join us for the next DC-area Researchers Group meeting on Friday, February 18th?  We will meet at 1 PM in room G-24 of the National Archives Building in Washington, DC. The agenda includes: 1. A discussion of NARA's Transformation Plan (read more on the Archivist's blog) 2. An update … Continue reading Agenda for the DC-Area Researchers Meeting on February 18th

Family Tree Friday: Check out AAD for 20th century military databases.

As a way to wrap up the discussion about records relating to military service in the 20th century, it would be a good idea to check out the electronic records available on NARA's Access to Archival Databases (AAD) . AAD is an online resource available on the NARA web site at http://aad.archives.gov/aad/ and contains a … Continue reading Family Tree Friday: Check out AAD for 20th century military databases.

Family Tree Friday: DC Building Permits

If you live in Washington, DC, or your ancestors did, or you are just interested in DC history, you might want to take a look at the DC Building Permits. Aside from using them to find out when a house was built or remodeled, you can also find individuals by name. If your ancestors owned … Continue reading Family Tree Friday: DC Building Permits