The third most used set of records at the National Archives in Pittsfield, after census and passenger lists, is probably the large and diverse collection of military records on microfilm.

As you work with these, as with other records, it is essential to record sufficient information so that you, or anyone else, can easily find the source again and so that you can document your findings completely and correctly in your files or for distribution to others. Write the information about the record in an accurate, durable and legible form on the face of each copy you make as you create it.

For pension files record this information:

• Name of soldier
• File number
• Series title
• NARA publication number
• Publisher (National Archives)
• Publisher address (Washington)
• Roll number
• Repository (National Archives)
• Repository address (Pittsfield, MA)

If you share or publish your research, or record it in a genealogy software program, you will want to use a widely accepted standard for formatting citations. If your software program is not flexible in generating variants required for publication, it will be most useful to the use the full footnote form indicated below since it contains the most detail.

Citation formats for pension files based on Elizabeth Shown Mills’ Evidence!: Citation & Analysis for the Family Historian are:

1. John Skilling file, no. S46410, Revolutionary War Pension and Bounty Land Warrant Application Files; micropublication M804 (Washington: National Archives), roll 2194.

4.  John Skilling, pension file, no. S46410, NARA M804, roll 2194.

For most Compiled Service Records you will use the microfilm index in Pittsfield and then complete NATF form 80 to order a copy of the original unfilmed document from Washington.

• As you work with the document record the following:
• Name of the soldier
• Type of record (compiled service record)
• Rank of soldier
• Unit in which he served
• File number
• Agency (Office of the Adjutant General)
• Record Group (94)
• Repository (National Archives)
• Repository address (Washington, D. C.)

Citation formats for Compiled Service Records (based on my interpretation of Mills’guidelines) are:

1. Nathan Marple, Civil War compiled service record (1st Sergeant, Company C, 128th Pennsylvania Infantry), 684; Record Group 94, Office of the Adjutant General; National Archives, Washington.

4. Nathan Marple, Civil War compiled service record, 684; Record Group 94, Office of the Adjutant General; National Archives.