Year: 2018

Lots of Fires

clairekluskens Uncategorized ,

The destruction of records by fire and other disasters ranks among the genealogist’s worst enemies. These are some of the most famous ones, but there were undoubtedly many others:

Sometimes, you have to think that we are lucky that records have survived at all.

NARA’s Innovation Hub Celebrates 300,000th Page Uploaded to Catalog

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Today’s post comes from Catherine Brandsen, National Archives Innovation Hub Coordinator Earlier this month, the Innovation Hub uploaded its 300,000th page for inclusion in the National Archives Catalog. Amazingly, this milestone took less than three years to achieve. Digitization opens up access to our records. Of the 13 billion paper records in the National Archives,…

via Innovation Hub Celebrates 300,000th Page Uploaded to Catalog — NARAtions

Yet More Unusual Records…. and How to Find Them

clairekluskens Anti-Obscurant , , ,

If you were intrigued by the horse sales records mentioned in a recent post, there are plenty more records in the U.S. National Archives that are unusual, unexpected, or unknown to most persons, that are just waiting for researchers to examine and make good use of.

I’ve outlined search strategies in an article entitled, “The National Archives Catalog” which I hope you’ll try for yourself. Hint: URLs in “green” colored text in the article are clickable links!

U.S. Government Horse Sales at Frederick, Maryland, and Reading Pennsylvania, February 1864

clairekluskens American Civil War (1861-65), Anti-Obscurant, NARA--RG 92 , , , , , , , ,

There are many unusual or unexpected records in the U.S. National Archives that shed light on the life on someone’s ancestor or relative. Among these is a slim volume in which were recorded the buyers and sale price of surplus military horses sold at auction on 12 February 1864 at Frederick, Maryland, and on 19 and 22 February 1864 at Reading, Pennsylvania. The Office of the Quartermaster General sold the horses because they were no longer fit for military duty, but were still serviceable for less demanding civilian needs.

Read about this volume in “No Horsing Around! Unusual Records in the National Archives” and then go to List of Horses Sold, February 1864 to take a look at the volume yourself.

All the names have been “tagged” so that a researcher could stumble upon this volume when doing a simple name search in the National Archives Catalog — but, beware! Names are not always spelled as expected!

NARA Microfilm Descriptive Pamphlets

clairekluskens Finding Records at NARA , , , , , ,

Finding aids for NARA microfilm It happens so often that these days it just makes The Legal Genealogist smile… ruefully, most times. You mention something in a blog post, like a Descriptive Pamphlet for a microfilm publication of the U.S. 947 more words

via And about those DPs… — The Legal Genealogist

Thank you, Judy, for the nice post on NARA DP’s!

Remembering Ernie Pyle

clairekluskens World War II , , , , , ,

Among the many heroes of World War II were the journalists who risked their lives to cover the war and allow the “folks back home” to understand what was happening from an overall view as well as from the up close and personal view of the boys on the front line. Ernie Pyle was a war correspondent who was embedded (as we now say) with Marines. He lost his life during the Battle of Okinawa on 18 April 1945. In the blog post “Spotlight: Remembering Ernie Pyle”  the staff of the National Archives highlight some of the photographic and video recordings that include this wonderful writer.

Review of “Married at Ellis Island….”

clairekluskens immigration, NARA--RG 85, Uncategorized , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

If you missed last Tuesday’s USCIS History Office webinar, “Married at Ellis Island…., 1892-1924,” you missed a good one. I won’t review all the details, but here are a few tidbits: It’s estimated that perhaps 300 women a year “married at Ellis Island” to their intended spouse in lieu of deportation on the grounds of “likely to become a public charge” or risk of falling into prostitution. The “Record of Detained Aliens” (title may vary) that follows the regular passenger lists for a given vessel (on microfilm or online) may have the notation “married” or similar words as a part of the information for the detained woman. The marriage record will be found in the New York City marriage records for that period which are online on Ancestry.com. A marriage on the alien woman’s date of arrival or during the day(s) she was detained is a good clue that the marriage happened “at Ellis Island” and was a requirement for her admission to the United States.

Military Records for African-American Genealogy

clairekluskens African-American Genealogy and History, American Civil War (1861-65), Modern Military Records, NARA--RG 94, Revolutionary War, War of 1812, World War I, World War II , , , , , , , , , , ,

Yesterday, I had the pleasure of speaking at the Afro-American Historical Society’s 2018 Black History Month Genealogy Conference in Laurel, Maryland. It was a great opportunity to reconnect with Alice F. Harris and Bernice Bennett, and to meet Marvin T. Jones, Erwin Polk, and others. All lecture handouts are available on the conference website. Much of my handout, Military Records for African-American Genealogy: Suggestions for Researchers, is applicable to all researchers regardless of color. I hope you’ll find it useful.

P.S. Any advertisements that appear on this website/blog benefit WordPress not me. Just FYI.

The Digital Future of Prologue

clairekluskens Uncategorized , , , , , , ,

Revised 7 February 2021

For 48 years, beginning in the Spring of 1969, the National Archives published a quarterly magazine, Prologue, that brought readers stories based on the rich holdings and programs of the National Archives across the nation—from Washington, DC, to the regional archives and the Presidential libraries. For many of those years, each issue also included a genealogy-focused article. The Winter 2017–18 issue was the last printed edition of Prologue.

So, the question is, what happened after the final print issue?  The answer is not surprising:  Blogs.

NARA staff in many parts of the agency are sharing information and stories found in the records through blog posts. There’s the Pieces of History Blog at https://prologue.blogs.archives.gov as well as 18 others listed on the web page, “The National Archives Blogs.” Some of them have specialized audiences; others will appeal to genealogical researchers and others with a general interest in history.  Check them out!

Join us for Citizen Archivist Week of Service!

clairekluskens Uncategorized

From David Ferriero, Archivist of the United States….

usnationalarchives's avatarAOTUS

In the spirit of the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day of Service, join us this week, January 15-19, 2018 for the Citizen Archivist Week of Service. Our goal is to tag or transcribe 2,018 pages in the National Archives Catalog during this week-long challenge. Can you help us meet this goal?

Citizen Archivist Week of Service: January 15-19, 2018. Volunteer to help us Unlock History!

Get started by visiting the Citizen Archivist Dashboard today through January 19. During this week, we’ll have a special expanded missions section and many featured records waiting to be tagged and transcribed. You can transcribe records related to Mediterranean Passports, which were certificates issued by the Secretary of State in an attempt to ensure safe passage of American vessels in areas threatened by Barbary pirates; slave manifests from the Port of New York; marriage licenses from the Office of Indian Affairs White Earth Agency; records from a wide range of civil rights issue in United States history…

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