[Mi-local-history] Military research

[Whitledge, Bryan R]

Thanks for sharing all of this, Adam. This is great.

When it comes to the NPRC fire, the staff at the National Archives (NARA) can do incredible things with their scanners and charred remains of what is left of the records. If researchers come up against the "it could have been destroyed in the fire" answer, sometimes it helps to be persistent and stick with it because the record might actually be salvageable with some technology and lots of preservation and conservation work<https://www.archives.gov/news/articles/2023-nprc-fire-anniversary>.

Also, a bipartisan group of Senators and Representatives sent a letter to NARA in 2020/2021 telling NARA that processing requests for veterans records should be a priority. In the past two years, the NPRC staff has thrown a ton of resources at digitizing veterans' records and, earlier this year, they eliminated the backlog of requests<https://aotus11.blogs.archives.gov/2024/01/24/news-update-nara-eliminates-pandemic-backlog-of-veteran-records-requests/>, which is great. So, should researchers need some support and they are at the end of the line in terms of resources, one's US Representative might be helpful - I wouldn't start at the Representative, though.

For newspapers, if one is looking for a list of digitized historical newspapers from around the US and around the world, there is a helpful list on Wikipedia<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:List_of_online_newspaper_archives> (and hopefully, each entry includes the date span and whether access is free or blocked by a paywall). The Clarke Historical Library works to contribute to the Michigan section, which is similar to the Digital Michigan Newspaper Portal<https://www.cmich.edu/research/clarke-historical-library/services/digmich-newspaper-preservation/newspaper-digitization-and-microfilming>. The other states listed may have varying degrees of completeness in terms of the lists of digitized historical newspapers in those states - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:List_of_online_newspaper_archives

I wish you the best,

Bryan Whitledge
Public Services Librarian
Clarke Historical Library
Central Michigan University
989-774-2159
whitl1br at cmich.edu


From: Mi-local-history <mi-local-history-bounces at mcls.org> On Behalf Of Oster, Adam (MDE) via Mi-local-history
Sent: Monday, March 4, 2024 12:37 PM
To: Sara VanLente <SVanLente at cityofzeeland.com>
Cc: mi-local-history at mcls.org
Subject: [External] Re: [Mi-local-history] Military research

Hi Sara,
A good place to start is to see if the National Archives has any records of the father's military service: https://www.archives.gov/research/military. You'll want to alert them that its possible that their father's records were lost in the 1973 National Personnel Records Center fire<https://www.archives.gov/personnel-records-center/fire-1973>, but its certainly good to double-check.

Its also good to look in the local newspaper where the patron's father grew up. Often updates connected to a person's military training or service overseas will get mentioned in the local paper.

They should also check out the United States Military Records wiki entry on FamilySearch.org: https://www.familysearch.org/en/wiki/United_States_Military_Records. It has a number of different resources, including a list of guidebooks that would provide additional "how-to" resources for researching a person's WWII experience.

Hope this helps!
Adam

Adam Oster, Community Engagement Librarian
Library of Michigan
Michigan Department of Education
702 W. Kalamazoo
PO Box 30007
Lansing, MI 48909

ostera at michigan.gov<mailto:ostera at michigan.gov> | 517-335-1469 | www.mi.gov/libraryofmichigan<http://www.mi.gov/libraryofmichigan>
Follow us: Facebook<https://www.facebook.com/libraryofmichigan/> | Twitter<https://twitter.com/libraryofmich> | Instagram<https://www.instagram.com/libraryofmichigan/>

From: Mi-local-history <mi-local-history-bounces at mcls.org<mailto:mi-local-history-bounces at mcls.org>> On Behalf Of Sara VanLente via Mi-local-history
Sent: Monday, March 4, 2024 12:11 PM
To: mi-local-history at mcls.org<mailto:mi-local-history at mcls.org>
Subject: [Mi-local-history] Military research

CAUTION: This is an External email. Please send suspicious emails to abuse at michigan.gov<mailto:abuse at michigan.gov>

Hi All-
I am attempting to help a patron begin some basic research on her father's (deceased) military career.  She knows that he served overseas during World War II, but is hoping to find some more information about where he was stationed and some battles he may have fought in.  Sadly, he did not share any of this information before he passed.  Any ideas on how to even begin this search?  Thanks in advance for any replies.


Sara Van Lente
Howard Miller Public Library

14 S. Church St.
Zeeland, Mi 49464

616-772-0874
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://mail3.mcls.org/pipermail/mi-local-history/attachments/20240304/2478174d/attachment-0001.html>