|
Record Groups at the National Archives
on 20th-Century Military Activities
Compiled by Jean Nudd, Archivist
This list is taken from the three-volume
Guide to Federal Records in the National
Archives of the United States, available at www.archives.gov/research_room/federal_records_guide/.
Information included here on a record group’s
content is generally not complete but abstracted to include records that
relate to 20th century military activities or to give a general idea of what
types of records might be found in particular record groups. Most of the
records listed are in original format only and available at the National
Archives in Washington, DC, or College Park, Maryland. Researchers should
consult the Guide for complete
information on these record groups.
RG 15,
Records of the Veterans Administration, 1773-1976
Pension records to 1935, National Home for
Disabled Volunteer Soldiers and the National Homes Service to 1938, Bureau
of War Risk Insurance and the Insurance Division, 1914-1934, Rehabilitation
Division of the Federal Board for Vocational Education, and records relating
to the Issuance of Prosthetic Appliances.
RG 18,
Records of the Army Air Forces, 1903-1964
Subgroups are Chief Signal Officer; Division of
Military Aeronautics; Bureau of Aircraft Production; Chiefs of the Air
Service and Air Corps; General Headquarters Air Force and Air Force Combat
Command; Headquarters Army Air Force; office files of Air Corps and Army Air
Forces Officers; and Commands, Activities, and Organizations.
RG 19,
Records of the Bureau of Ships, 1794-1972,
at one point part of the War Department.
RG 24,
Records of the Bureau of Naval Personnel, 1798-1970
Bureau of Naval Personnel functions include
recruitment, assignment of officers, quartermaster duties and training
enlisted men. RG 24 has ship logs, muster rolls for ships, correspondence
jackets for enlisted men, 1904-1943, applications, examinations, and
appointment records for naval officers, 1838-1940, commissions and warrants,
1844-1936 and records of naval deserters. If a researcher is lucky enough
to have had a naval chaplain in the family, correspondence (1916-40),
biographical data (1804-1923) and miscellaneous records (1898-1946) are
available. Some of these records are on microfilm.
RG 26,
Records of the United States Coast Guard, 1785-1988
Includes Bureau of Lighthouses, Revenue Cutter
Service, Life Saving Service, and Coast Guard records.
RG 38,
Records of the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations, 1875-1985
RG 43,
Records of International Conferences, Commissions, and Expositions,
1825-1972 Includes (various
dates) Red Cross Conference (problems discussed included sick and wounded
soldiers during wartime); Conference on the Limitation of Armament;
Conference for the Limitation of Naval Armament; London Naval Conference(s);
Japanese Peace Conference; Records of World War II Conferences; Yalta; and
Paris Peace Conference.
RG 45,
Naval Records Collection of the Office of Naval Records and Library,
1691-1945 Includes Office of the
Secretary of the Navy, Board of Navy Commissioners, Bureaus of the Navy
Department, Chief of Naval Operations, Naval Shore Establishments, and
Boards and Commissions.
RG 52,
Records of the Bureau of Medicine and Surgery, 1812-1975
Department of the Navy bureau, records
include medical journals of shore stations, medical certificates and
casualty lists, 1828-1939, survivors of wrecked
ships and aircraft, photos, and records of naval hospitals,
1812-1929, for active duty and retired navy
personnel and their dependents.
RG 71, Records of the
Bureau of Yards and Docks, 1784-1963
War Department bureau, includes some information
on Seabees.
RG 72,
Records of the Bureau of Aeronautics, 1911-1965.
Department of the Navy bureau.
RG 74,
Records of the Bureau of Ordinance, 1818-1967
War Department bureau.
RG 75,
Records of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, 1793-1989
Eastern Navajo Indian Agency Selective Service
files, 1940-45; Fort Belknap Indian Agency draft registration cards,
1917-18; Leech Lake Indian Agency draft registration cards, 1918; Mission
Indian Agency records relating to World War II, 1941-45; Papago Indian
Agency files relating to Selective Service, 1940-45; Tama Indian Agency
draft registration cards, 1917-18; Klamath Indian Agency photographs of war
veterans, n.d.
RG 77,
Records of the Office of the Chief of Engineers, 1789-1988
Maps, plans, construction of military
cemeteries, equipment and supplies, aerial photos, overseas leased bases,
Director General of Military Railways, Army engineers.
RG 78,
Records of the United States Naval Observatory, 1840-1943
RG 80, General Records of the Department of the
Navy, 1804-1958.
RG 92,
Records of the Office of the Quartermaster General, 1774-1985
Includes Army Transport Passenger Lists
(incoming 1917-1923 and outgoing 1917-1926) that might provide service
numbers for World War I veterans and the name and address of the next of kin
(at the time of sailing). The records are arranged alphabetically by name
of ship, and then chronologically by date of sailing and lastly by regiment
and company.
World War I Army casualty lists are arranged by
state and by division. Information includes name of the casualty, rank,
service number, unit and date of death. Navy and Marine Corps casualty
lists are also available and provide cause of death, date of death, rank,
unit and name and address of next of kin (as of 1919).
The Graves Registration Service made a file for
every soldier who died overseas. The records are arranged alphabetically by
surname. Also created was a list of mothers and widows eligible to make a
pilgrimage to the war cemeteries in Europe. This was published as House
Document No. 140 and published by the Government Printing Office. The
publication is available at Federal Depository Libraries. None of these
records are indexed or microfilmed.
RG 94,
Records of the Adjutant General’s Office [AGO], 1780s-1917
The Adjutant General’s Office (AGO) provided
administrative and support services first to the War Department and then to
the Department of the Army by maintaining personnel records and developing
data processing systems. This group of records includes correspondence to
1917; records concerning the appointment and commissioning of Reserve Corps
officers, 1917; orders to 1910, muster rolls to 1912, and returns to 1916;
registers of enlistment to 1914, records of retired men, 1915-20; and within
the records of the Record and Pension Office are some carded birth records
to 1912, death records of civilians to 1912, and marriage records of
individuals married on Army posts to 1912.
RG 99,
Records of the Office of the Paymaster General, 1791-1917
RG 107,
Records of the Office of the Secretary of War, 1791-1947
RG 111,
Records of the Office of the Chief Signal Officer, 1860-1982
RG 112,
Records of the Office of the Surgeon General (Army), 1775-1959
RG 117,
Records of the American Battle Monuments Commission, 1918-1969
Lists of
burials in U.S. military cemeteries, memorials in foreign countries
and rosters of military
personnel recorded as missing.
RG 120,
Records of the American Expeditionary Forces [AEF] (World War I), 1848-1928
The bulk of these records cover
1911-1927. Broken into subgroups: Records of the General Staff (1911-1927)
includes administrative, intelligence, operations, coordination, training,
and historical; Records of the Administrative Staff (1917-26) includes
adjutant general, inspector general, judge advocate general, chief chaplain,
headquarters commandant; Records of Technical Staff (1917-1919) include Air
Service, chief of artillery, Railway Artillery Reserve and Anti-Aircraft
Service; Records of Advance General Headquarters (1915-1919); Records of
Headquarters Services of Supply (1916-1921); Records of SOS Geographical
Sections (1917-1920); Records of AEF Tactical Units (1917-1922); Records of
American Forces in France (1919-1920); Records of American Forces in Germany
(1918-1923); Records of American Polish Relief Expedition (1919-1921);
Records of American Expeditionary Forces in Northern Russia (1917-1919); and
Records of U.S. Representatives to World War I International Bodies
(1917-1928).
Of particular interest may be the records of the
Personnel Division of the Adjutant General’s records including Officers’
Roster Section records, name files maintained by the Casualty Information
and Check Section of dead and wounded and of men reported missing in action
or prisoners of war (1918) and correspondence and lists of the Central
Records Office relating to American POWs in Germany and of German and
Austro-Hungarian prisoners held by the AEF (1918-19). Records of the Chief
of Air Service also includes card files of casualties. In the records of
the American forces in Germany are Division of Criminal Investigation
general correspondence and registers of military personnel (1920-22) and
civilians (1919-20) arrested at Coblenz and Andernach. The AEF in Northern
Russia records include records of medical units (1918-19), passenger lists
of N. Russia troopships (1918-19), company rosters of the 339th Infantry and
310th Engineers and weekly rosters of officers (April-May 1919).
Intelligence section includes name card files of Bolsheviks and records of
the Suspects and Circulation section. Historical section has correspondence
relating to war diaries and American Indians serving in the AEF.
RG 125,
Records of the Office of the Judge Advocate General (Navy), 1799-1943
RG 127,
Records of the United States Marine Corps, 1775-1971
Includes muster
rolls, 1798-1945; records of enlisted men including service records,
1798-1906; size rolls, 1798-1901, descriptive lists; 1879-1906; and an
alphabetical card list, 1798-1941. RG 127 also includes registers of
courts-martial, 1897-1906 and 1919-33; desertions, 1809-1907, 1910-41;
discharges, 1829-1927, and deaths, 1838-1942; casualty card lists, 1776-1945
and strength and casualty reports, 1775-1971. Some records are
microfilmed. Some muster books for specific Marine barracks are also
available, some held regionally.
RG 131,
Records of the Office of Alien Property, 1878-1965
Records relating to activities arising from
World War I and World War II.
RG 143,
Records of the Bureau of Supplies and Accounts (Navy), 1885-1967
RG 147,
Records of the Selective Service System, 1940-, 1926-1971
Includes case files of conscientious objectors,
1940-1947
RG 153,
Records of the Office of the Judge Advocate General (Army), 1692-1981
RG 156,
Records of the Office of the Chief of Ordinance, 1797-1968
RG 159,
Records of the Office of the Inspector General (Army), 1814-1962
RG 160,
Records of Headquarters Army Service Forces, 1939-1946
RG 163,
Records of the Selective Service System (World War I), 1917-1939
RG 165,
Records of the War Department General and Special Staffs, 1860-1952
RG 168,
Records of the National Guard Bureau, 1822-1963
RG 210,
Records of the War Relocation Authority, 1941-1947
Headquarters records include general records
(subject files, reports, reference files, newsletters and newspapers); case
files (evacuee case files, school transcripts and related correspondence (may
have restricted access); and other records (statistical reports,
forms and ledgers). Field records include San Francisco offices
(correspondence, subject files, and evacuee real property inventory cards);
relocation center records (subject files, evacuee cards, rosters, reports,
etc.); and records of associated agencies such as the Wartime Civil Control
Administration, the War Refugee Board, and the War Agency Liquidation Unit
of the Department of the Interior.
RG 231,
Records of the United States Soldiers’ Home, 1803-1943
Includes correspondence and orders, records
relating to inmates (registers of men admitted and discharged 1851-1941);
registers of sick inmates (1872-1943); records relating to deceased inmates
(1852-1942); and records relating to employees.
RG 238,
National Archives Collection of World War II War Crimes Records, 1933-1950
Includes Mauthausen Concentration
Camp death books (1939-1945 on microfilm and available at NRAP), case files
and witness statements, etc.
RG 242,
National Archives Collection of Foreign Records Seized, 1675-1983
Includes records of the National
Socialist German Labor Party (mostly 1919-45); records of German Ministries
(mostly 1914-45); records of other German Government Agencies (mostly
1935-45); records of the German Army (mostly 1935-45); German Navy
(1850-1945); Air Force (mostly 1927-45); other German military records
(1675-1945); private German, Austrian and Dutch Enterprises (1917-46);
German political, trade and professional organizations (1922-45); records
filmed at the Berlin Document Center (1919-45), mostly non-biographical
files but selected records concerning Jews ca. 1933-44 and card file
containing names of Jews whose German citizenship was annulled by the
National Socialist regime ca. 1936-44; miscellaneous German records
(1917-45); Italian records (1922-45); Hungarian records (mostly 1938-45);
Polish records (1887-1939); Japanese records (1928-45); records of other
countries seized during and at the end of World War II (1815-1945); North
Korean records (1914-55); Grenadian records (1979-83); as well as maps,
still pictures, motion pictures and sound recordings.
RG 247,
Records of the Office of the Chief of Chaplains, 1902-1964
Chaplains personnel records, index to funerals
(1923-55), chapel registers (1902-23 and 1939-51), microfilm copies of
records documenting marriages and baptisms (1917-64) and funerals (1952-64)
performed by Army chaplains.
RG 278,
Records of the Displaced Persons Commission, 1945-52
This commission administered selection and
resettlement in the U.S. of certain European displaced persons. Includes
letters of inquiry about refugees, letters concerning resettled refugees,
records of the Orphan Section including letters of request for adoption of
orphans sent to the Church World Services.
RG 313,
Records of Naval Operating Forces, 1849-1980
Includes letters, reports, issuances,
endorsements, radio communications, telegrams relating to various squadrons
(Asiatic, Bering Sea, European, North Atlantic, South Atlantic, and others),
fleets (Atlantic, Pacific, and Europe), U.S. fleet, Naval Operating Forces
WWII and later, Pacific Ocean Area activities, U.S. Naval Support Force
Antarctica, and other records.
RG 319,
Records of the Army Staff, 1903-1992
Includes Chief of Staff, Chief of Legislative
Liaison, Chief of Information, Chief of Civil Affairs, Office of the
Director of the Women’s Army Corps, Comptroller of the Army, Assistant
Chiefs of Staff, Deputy Chiefs of Staff, Office of Reserve Components, Chief
of Research and Development, Chief-Army Reserve, Chief of Special Warfare,
Center of Military History, Intelligency Command, Intelligence and Security
Command, Intelligence Field Organizations, and Boards and Committees.
Includes records on Korean War defectors.
RG 331,
Records of Allied Operational and Occupation Headquarters, World War II,
1907-1966 Includes records of
Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force, Special Staff
Organizations, Committees, Missions (France and others), Headquarters 6th
Army Group, Headquarters 12th Army Group, Headquarters 21st Army Group,
Headquarters 1st Allied Airborne Army, Air Staff, other organizations,
Headquarters Allied Naval Commander-in-Chief Expeditionary Forces, and
Theaters.
RG 333,
Records of International Military Agencies, 1941-1981
Includes Munitions Assignments Boards, Joint
Brazil-U.S. Military Commission, Triparite Naval Commission, Permanent Joint
Board of Defense-U.S. and Canada, United Nations Command, Southeast Asia
Treaty Organization, and the Central Treaty Organization.
RG 334,
Records of Interservice Agencies, 1916-1973
Includes records of the U.S. Military Mission to
Moscow, other Army missions to Latin America and Africa, military assistance
units in NATO countries, State-Army-Navy-Air Force Coordinating Committee,
State Defense Committee for Military Information Control, Aeronautical
Board, Armed Services Explosives Safety Board, Armed Services Patent
Advisory Board, Armed Forces Epidemiological Board, Armed Services Petroleum
Board, Area Joint Committees, Industrial College of the Armed Forces, Army
and Navy Staff College and the National War College, Army Medical Library,
Army and Air Force Exchange Service, Armed Services Medical Regulating
Office, National Wartime Information Security Organization, Armed Services
Textile and Apparel Procurement Agency, and Armed Forces Courier Service.
RG 335,
Records of the Office of the Secretary of the Army, 1903-1980
RG 337,
Records of Headquarters Army Ground Forces, 1916-1954
RG 338,
Records of the United States Army Commands, 1942-, 1917-1993
RG 340,
Records of the Office of the Secretary of the Air Force, 1928-1966
RG 341,
Records of Headquarters Air Force, 1934-1989
RG 342,
Records of U.S. Air Force Commands, Activities and Organizations, 1980-1985,
1991
RG 345,
Records of the Naval Electronics Systems Command, c. 1949
RG 349,
Records of Joint Commands, 1945-1966
RG 373,
Records of the Defense Intelligence Agency, 1920-1984
RG 374,
Records of the Defense Nuclear Agency, 1943-1962
RG 383,
Records of the U.S. Arms Control and Disarmament Agency, 1962-1982
RG 389,
Records of the Office of the Provost Marshal General 1941, 1920-1975
RG 391,
Records of the U.S. Regular Army Mobile Units 1821-1942, 1815-1950
RG 392,
Records of U.S. Army Coast Artillery Districts and Defenses 1901-1942,
1901-1950
RG 393,
Records of U.S. Army Continental Commands 1821-1920, 1817-1940
RG 394,
Records of U.S. Army Continental Commands 1920-1942, 1871-1945
RG 395,
Records of U.S. Army Overseas Operations and Commands 1898-1942, 1870-1942
RG 404,
Records of the U.S. Military Academy, 1800-1993
Includes records of the Office of the
Superintendent and Dean of the Academic Board West Point [policies,
correspondence, class committee reports, reports on deficient cadets
(1909-47), organizational histories, files of cadet grades (various dates
depending on department 1860-1983), Corps of Cadets, records of the
Commandant (1813-1992)]. Also records of other departments such as
Secretary of General Staff (1970-86); Adjutant General (1800-1990);
Directorate of Community and Family Activities (1841-1961); Directorate of
Information Management (1933-93); Directorate of Logistics (1816-1987);
Directorate of Engineering and Housing (1837-1971); Directorate of Resource
Management (1942-62); Special Staff (1818-1993) including Admissions,
Chaplain, and Public Affairs; Tenant Activities (1856-1950); Boards and
Committees (1819-1986), and others.
RG 405,
Records of the United States Naval Academy, 1836-1991
RG 407,
Records of the Adjutant General’s Office, 1917-.
Examples of records of the Personnel Division
include Officers’ Roster Section records, name files maintained by the
Casualties Information and Check Section of dead and wounded and of men
reported missing in action or prisoners of war (1918), correspondence and
lists relating to American POWs in Germany (1918-19); records relating to
National Guard units including recruits, promotions and furloughs, 1916-22;
general records relating to the Women’s Army Corps recruiting program,
1943-45; applications for service medals and awards, 1905-51; and
information cards on officers commissioned in the regular army, National
Guard, and reserves, ca. 1917-48. Records of operating units include
correspondence related to postal carriers and officers, V-Mail service, and
Allied Expeditionary Force messages, 1939-54. The Philippine Archives
Collection deals with the recovery, repatriation and restitution of U.S. and
Philippine military personnel and civilians interned by the Japanese during
World War II.
RG 410,
Records of the Office of the Chief of Support Services, 1962-1968
Army food program and commissary
operations correspondence.
RG 418,
Records of St. Elizabeth’s Hospital, 1820-1981
Includes registers up to 1946 of patients
receiving mental health care.
RG 428,
General Records of the Department of the Navy 1947-, 1941-1981
Records of the Office of the Secretary
and the Naval Photographic Center.
RG 456,
Records of the Defense Mapping Agency, 1972-1986
RG 457,
Records of the National Security Agency/Central Security Service, 1917-1985
Includes records of Army
cryptanalytic functions.
RG 466,
Records of the U.S. High Commissioners for Germany, 1944-1945
Includes Bremen, Wuerttemberg-Baden,
Bavaria, and Hesse Land Commissioner’s records.
RG 472,
Records of the U.S. Forces in Southeast Asia 1950-1975, 1950-1976
Sources
Knapp, Michael. “World War I
Service Records.” Prologue 22 (Fall
1990).
National Archives.
Guide to Federal Records in the National
Archives of the United States. Washington: NARA, 1995.
“Obtaining Copies of World
War I Records.” Prologue 31 (Summer
1999).
|
