As I've been reviewing pertinent records over the past several weeks relating to 20th-century military service, it's finally time to say a few words about those that document the Vietnam War. Instead of focusing on any one specific series, a general overview seems to offer the best approach to highlight these records, especially since they have … Continue reading Family Tree Friday: An overview of Vietnam War-era records
Category: Genealogy / Family History
Have you tried Online Public Access?
Online Public Access (OPA) launched to the public on December 27th. What is Online Public Access? It’s the public search and display for online access to our records or information about our records. What does it contain? OPA contains all of the data and most functionality from the Archival Research Catalog (ARC), all web pages … Continue reading Have you tried Online Public Access?
Family Tree Friday: Korean War-era Command Reports
While World War II usually dominates attention as the largest and most important U.S. war of the 20th century, let's also consider that perennially "forgotten" conflict of the early 1950s, the Korean War. The participation of U.S. military units in the Korean War is also well documented in Record Group 407, Records of the Adjutant General's … Continue reading Family Tree Friday: Korean War-era Command Reports
Family Tree Friday: Pension Indexes Examined
Have you ever looked at a pension index, only to be confused because it didn’t make sense? Or frustrated because you couldn’t read the numbers? It’s probably happened to most of us, at one time or another. Researchers normally start with T288, General Index to Pension Files, 1861-1934, or T289, Organization Index to Pension Files … Continue reading Family Tree Friday: Pension Indexes Examined
Family Tree Friday: Post Office Records, Continued (part 3)
Today I want to talk about a type of Post Office Department record that most people probably haven’t considered – Letters Sent by the Postmaster General, 1789-1836. As the series title implies, these are letters that were sent by the Postmaster General. They deal with a lot of different types of activity – the establishment … Continue reading Family Tree Friday: Post Office Records, Continued (part 3)
Have Your Say: 2010 Census Records!
Genealogists, you love census records. I would easily nominate you as their No. 1 fan! Census records are rock stars for those who love to research family history. Have you ever wondered what it will be like to research the 2010 Census records in the future? The decisions about what is permanently kept are being … Continue reading Have Your Say: 2010 Census Records!
Our Social Media Strategy
We posted the first version of our social media strategy today on Archives.gov. Our overall approach is to engage our staff, the government community, and researchers and citizen archivists so we can be a more open agency while accomplish NARA's mission more effectively. We express our core values and strategies for social media in three … Continue reading Our Social Media Strategy
So, What Have We Been Doing in Reference?
We are just finishing up performance appraisals at NARA - that annual event where employees and supervisors get together and discuss how the employee has done in the past year to meet his or her “critical elements.” Critical elements are the duties and responsibilities each one of us has to support NARA’s goals and objectives. … Continue reading So, What Have We Been Doing in Reference?
Family Tree Friday: World War II Records at College Park
Continuing the theme of my last post, which introduced alternate ways to research 20th century military service (to compensate for the personnel files lost in the 1973 file at the National Personnel Records Center in St. Louis), this time we'll look at two essential series of unit records relating to World War II. By far … Continue reading Family Tree Friday: World War II Records at College Park
Family Tree Friday: Using military unit and operational records–World War I
A recent post in the "NARA Coast to Coast" blog here on NARAtions (see Pay Day for Some World War I Military Personnel Records from September 27, 2010) highlighted problems in researching 20th century military service that resulted from the July 12, 1973 fire at the Military Personnel Record Center in St. Louis, Missouri. In addition to … Continue reading Family Tree Friday: Using military unit and operational records–World War I