Historical Records

Following the Civil War, when nearly 200,000 African American men served, the U.S. Army established 4 African American infantry (later modified to 2) and 2 cavalry regiments in 1868. They initially served in the West but fought in the Spanish American War and the two World Wars in segregated units. It was not until 1948 that Executive Order 9981 integrated the military. What was life like for these soldiers? Where do you find service and pension records?

Organized in Chicago, IL in 1917 by citizens who believed the United States Department of Justice was understaffed and not up to the task of fighting against espionage. They grew to a volunteer force of more than 250,000 members. The APL was given absolute power to stop ordinary citizens in the streets by checking whether men were legally registered for draft, or were sympathetic to the Germans, or those unregistered aliens living in the United States. Long believed to be a pseudo-patriotic organization. The APL documented both members and their activities in rich genealogical and historical details at the time the United States entered World War I.

La Première Guerre mondiale a marqué la vie de nos ancêtres, mais a également laissé des traces dans de nombreuses sources d’archives. Découvrez dans ce webinaire comment rechercher et exploiter ces documents, afin de retracer le parcours de vos ancêtres durant la Grande Guerre, qu’ils soient militaires ou civils.

Much of this webinar focuses on the process of collecting, identifying, and burying the dead, and the resulting records, including their genealogical significance. In World War I (1917–1918) there were 53,402 battle deaths, while in World War II (1941–1945) battle deaths rose to 291,557. There are 124,905 American…

This webinar will provide an insight into the experience which shattered the pre-WW1 order and transformed society irrevocably, particularly in the small villages of rural Britain.

This presentation will tell the story of the Fromelles Project with a specific focus on how genealogical detective work has so far helped to identify 166 of the Fromelles soldiers and give them named graves in the first military cemetery to be built in France since WWII.

This lecture focuses on records of the Canadian Expeditionary Forces; including the C.E.F. personal files, Commonwealth grave registry, Regimental Nominal Rolls, and American’s fighting for Canada during this conflict and other records of the Royal Navy and Marines.

This lecture focuses on tracing an American soldier from recruit camp, his ship journey to England or France, his time in the American Expeditionary Force (AEF) and his return to America and demobilization.

For this 100th anniversary year of the US in World War I, we’ll look at the history of American women during World War I and what resources exist to research their story.

The years 1912-23 saw the deaths of over 75,000 from Ireland in armed conflict, from the fields of France to the streets of Dublin. Irish men and women took arms to fight for Irish freedom and to defend the Empire. This lecture will untangle the complexities of the surviving records.

Researching your World War 1 ancestors can be challenging. With the losses of records by fire in St. Louis in 1973 and stricter privacy laws; this lecture focuses on ways to reconstruct military service for family who served their country including records of draft registrations, war casualties, troop manifests, and…