Web Sightings: National Archives Video Programs

Posted on February 21, 2015 by Dawn Bingaman

Since at least 2004, the United States National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) has held free public programs on a wide variety of topics about their holdings at the Washington, D.C. and College Park, Maryland facilities. Some of these recorded programs of particular interest to genealogists began making their way online in 2012 as part of the “Know Your Records” series. Twenty such videos are now available for viewing on the National Archives YouTube channel.

Three short introductory videos concerning military records are online, featuring Archives Specialist and resident military expert, John P. Deeben. I have embedded the videos below for convenience:

Military Research at the National Archives: Volunteer Service

This video tells us about military service records compiled for Volunteer soldiers who served in wartime from the Revolutionary War to the Philippine Insurrection, with specific examples of the CMSR for a Revolutionary War soldier.

Military Research at the National Archives: Regular Service

Registers of Enlistments for professional soldiers in the United States Army (1798-1914) available on M233 give information relative to the registration of soldiers and their discharge or separation from service.

Deeben also discusses the equivalent records for the United States Navy, called “Rendezvous Reports”. These reports (indexed as T1098 and T1099) cover the time frame between the Mexican War to about 1891. The records themselves are part of M1953.

Military Research at the National Archives: Pension Records

In this final video, Deeben introduces military pension files for service members (or their widows) stored at Archives 1, covering the period between 1775-1916. He shows examples of the records and information gleaned from them of interest to military historians and genealogists. He also reminds us that pension files for service in the Confederate military forces during the American Civil War are not held at the National Archives and must be sought at the state level.

In early February 2015, an announcement was made that future programs would be live-streamed. Check the monthly calendar and plan your viewing schedule accordingly by clicking in to this link: http://www.archives.gov/dc-metro/events/.

Virtual Genealogy Fair 2013

Posted on August 25, 2013 by Dawn Bingaman

The United States National Archives will be hosting a Virtual Genealogy Fair September 3rd and 4th, 2013. Thirteen presentations will be made over the two-day period. There are no registration fees; all you need is a computer and an Internet connection.

Scheduled presentations will cover a wide range of Federal records available through the National Archives: Civil War pension files, United States Colored Troops, immigration, naturalization and citizenship, Federal penitentiary records, Native American records, Chinese Exclusion Act, Freedman’s Bank records, etc. Details can be found at this link: http://www.archives.gov/dc-metro/know-your-records/genealogy-fair/

Webcast instructions are here:
http://www.archives.gov/dc-metro/know-your-records/genealogy-fair/webcast-instructions.html

For those who cannot attend “live”, the sessions will be recorded!

Follow or contribute to the conversation on Twitter using the hashtag #genfair2013.

I imagine this virtual offering is being made due to the prior cancellation of the on-premise 2013 National Archives Ninth Annual Genealogy Fair. For those unable to travel to Washington, D.C., a virtual genealogy fair is preferable. Perhaps if they do decide to resume the Annual Genealogy Fair they will also simulcast online via webinar.

NARA Records Digitized by Partners

Posted on July 9, 2013 by Dawn Bingaman

United States National Archives Digitization Partners

A fantastic link was shared yesterday by instructor Claire Bettag, CG in her “NARA at Your Fingertips” talk to our group at the National Institute on Genealogical Research (NIGR), currently underway at the National Archives in Washington, DC.

The link she shared was to National Archives records digitized and made available in whole or in part on the websites of its digitization partners, Ancestry.com and Fold3.com. If researching from home, you will likely need a subscription to pull up the record, but the index should be available at no charge.

This long list of digitized publications can easily be sorted by clicking on any of the column headings. Or, search the page for a specific keyword using CTRL+ F on your keyboard. Once you’ve found a publication of interest, click on the title to be taken to the search page at the partner website. In this example, I have searched for M313, the War of 1812 Pension Application Files Index, and clicked that link to be taken to the search page on Ancestry.com.

War of 1812 Pension Application Files Index (1812-1815) at Ancestry.

Claire Bettag is one of my favorite speakers on topics relative to records held at the National Archives. I always come away with a valuable tidbit from one of her lectures.

[Post updated 15 Jan 2018]

The War of 1812 Begins

Posted on June 18, 2012 by Dawn Bingaman

200 years ago today, on 18 Jun 1812, what we now call “The War of 1812” began when the United States declared war on Great Britain. Explore the document that started it all at The National Archives Experience website.

2 Stat. 755 (1812) An Act declaring War between the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and the dependencies thereof, and the United States of America and their territories.

The War of 1812 has been referred to by historians as “The Forgotten War”. Now that the bicentennial is upon us, I doubt we’ll continue to use that phrase. There are some very interesting projects underway to chronicle the events of the war as they happened 200 years ago.

Follow the war online at 1812now or the Blog of 1812. Alternately, you can follow several different Twitter feeds where the war is being “live tweeted” or otherwise covered:

Find original documents about the War of 1812 online at Fold3.com. The collection is free to use in June 2012, and available via subscription thereafter.

[Updated 04 Jul 2012 to include additional twitter resources.]

Ancestor Roundup

Reining in my American Ancestors

Tag Archives: National Archives