Safeguarding Our History: The Vital Role of the National Archives in Preserving Military Records

Among the many alarming actions taken by the current administration was the firing of the national archivist (and other senior staff), raising significant concerns about the future of the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA). The work done by NARA, particularly in terms of military records, is crucial to American history and policy and deserves attention—and preservation. Read on for what you need to know.

Note: Actions at the federal level are occurring and changing rapidly. The following information was current at the time of writing and publication.

What Is NARA, and What Does It Do?

The focus of NARA is the preservation of government documents, the management of presidential libraries, and the publication of laws and regulations, presidential documents, and any other government documents deemed to have historic value, both in print and, increasingly, digital formats.

Given the size of the federal government, this is an enormous undertaking. Many documents that have tremendous value in terms of US history are kept here, including the Declaration of Independence, the US Constitution, and the Bill of Rights. Preserving these records and making them publicly available is an important method of maintaining transparency and openness to the American people.

This is vitally important because, in a democracy, governmental records belong to the people. NARA has preserved and provided access to those records according to democratic principles for more than eighty years. One of its missions is to provide freedom of information to any citizen who is interested in governmental records of all kinds.

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Military Records

Among the many kinds of records held by NARA are military records. NARA has extensive records from the US Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force, and Coast Guard. It also has records from the Army National Guard and Air Force National Guard, although some are held in state depositories. Holdings range from federal military service records from the Revolutionary War to 1912, which are held in Washington, DC, while WWI and forward are held in the National Military Personnel Records Center (NPRC) in St. Louis.

Researchers who want to find specific military personnel or documents can request them from NARA online, but currently, not all records are available digitally. Items available online include images of US Navy ships; pension applications from Revolutionary War veterans; WWI photographs and information about the “Lost Battalion;” WWII enlistment, draft, and casualty records and photos; records and statistics from the Vietnam conflict; and casualty records for the Korean War. The Veterans’ Service Records page has a useful breakdown of different types of records and where to find them.

That’s by no means all the types of records in existence for US military history. Things such as veterans’ military service and medical records are not online. Veterans or their next of kin can request military service records that aren’t available on the internet by filling out the online service records request form.

In addition, there are service and casualty records for military enrollees, Camp Nelson interment records, photos, and sketches from the Civil War. The Spanish-American War is represented by service records from war volunteers and documents regarding the sinking of the USS Maine.

As we approach Memorial Day, it’s also valuable to know that NARA has extensive resources about fallen US troops around the world, giving loved ones a way to “visit” their graves even if they can’t visit them in person.

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How Can We Support NARA?

There are several ways. One quick step is to contact your representative and senators and ask them to protect NARA. A simple way to do that is to use 5 Calls, an app that finds the contact info for representatives and senators more quickly than googling them will do.

Other methods of support include:

• Donating to the National Archives Foundation. There are multiple ways to donate, from one-time and recurring donations to legacy and retirement donations. Donations of all types and sizes help NARA develop programming, activities, and exhibits.
• Registering for the Citizen Archivist Program. NARA wants to ensure everyone has access to its archives, and the best way to do that going forward is to have up-to-date digital archives that reflect all of its print documents. Volunteers are needed to transcribe historical documents, share comments with other archivists, or tag archival photos. Citizen archivists can be involved for whatever time period fits their lives.
• Participating in the NARA Archival Recovery Program (ARP). It’s not unusual for documents to go missing and remain unreturned when borrowed. This program allows volunteers to search for missing documents, determine if there are other documents that should be in NARA’s holdings, or work with people and organizations who reach out to NARA about possible missing documents.

Finally, if you or people you know have had loved ones who served in any branch of the US military, or if you’re interested in military history, take time to explore NARA’s military records to learn more about those loved ones or any aspect of military history that interests you. NARA preserves these so we can all have access and learn more about them.