Ever wonder what exciting new projects the many employees at NARA are working on? The “What are You Working On?” blog feature aims to introduce a variety of NARA employees and highlight some of the exciting projects we are working on around the agency. Check for this blog series on Wednesdays! This week, we introduce … Continue reading "What Are You Working On, Tina Ligon?"
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!
In the immediate aftermath of World War II, the Department of War and the Department of the Navy both published national lists of casualties for the U.S. Army and Army Air Force, Navy, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard. The intent was to disseminate the information to the general public in a timely manner, for the … Continue reading Family Tree Friday: Digitized World War II casualties lists on ARC
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
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
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
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
In honor of Veterans Day, today's blog post comes from Nathan Jordan, an Archives Technician at the National Archives at Atlanta. Nathan recently presented his family's history of military service using resources from the National Archives. Greetings from Atlanta! Thanks for allowing me to blog in honor of Veterans Day. When I began working as … Continue reading What did you do in the war, Grandpa?
Since we've been highlighting special fighting units that served in various wars, I thought I would mention a group I'm sure many people have probably heard about (even if you're not exactly sure who they are): the Galvanized Yankees. These men were former Confederate prisoners of war who opted to enlist in the Union Army to … Continue reading Family Tree Friday: Fighting both sides in the Civil War
Continuing on the theme of (unusually-named) specialty units that served in the U.S. military, this time we look at the artificers who supported the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War. Simply put, artificers were skilled artisans and mechanics who kept military equipment in good working order so the troops could operate effectively. They typically served … Continue reading Family Tree Friday: Artificers in the Revolutionary War
