NARA’s annual Genealogy Series features staff experts speaking about records in National Archives custody. The 2024 series begins on May 21. This year’s line up includes:
Passport Records: Passport Applications at NARA, 1790s-1925 – May 21, 1 p.m. ET
After Their Service: Tracing the Lives of Native American Army Scouts – May 28, 1 p.m. ET
Captured German Records Related to American Prisoners of War During World War II – June 4, 1 p.m. ET
Alien Files (A-Files): Researching Immigrant Ancestors at the National Archives – June 18, 1 p.m. ET
World War II Enemy Alien Records Related to Japanese Americans at the National Archives – June 25, 1 p.m. ET
Don’t worry about missing the program! After their premiere, these videos will remain online on YouTube for future viewing.
The map below, courtesy of Australia’s Digital Classroom, shows the European boundaries of the Central Powers whose citizens were considered enemy aliens.
Search Tips: When searching the Enemy Alien Index in NARA’s Catalog, keep in mind that the first name of some aliens are abbreviated, such as “Chas.” for Charles or “Robt.” for Robert. Therefore, if searching by first and last name yields no results, search by surname only, or even by first name only for unusual first names. Also consider searching by alternate spellings of a surname if you get no results. In addition, some women are listed by their husband’s name, such as Mrs. Theodore Zeigler (NAID 296756836). You can also browse through an entire file unit (there are 23 file units), but be sure to set the “Sort by” order to either “Title (Alphabetically, A-Z)” or “Title (Alphabetically, Z-A)” instead of “Most Relevant.”
The Twelve Key 