The course is designed to be highly interactive, with critical thinking practicums at the end of each of the first four days in the series of lectures. This provides the students with an opportunity for practical applications of new sources learned. Key terminology will enhance the student’s journey, allowing for a deeper look into other records that leads to more advanced research. Instruction will ultimately look at the FAN club for our military ancestors, including brothers, cousins, friends, and other known familial associates. When properly analyzed, military records can be used for more profound ways to research our ancestors’ lives, including details of military service and family history during post-war service.
Students should have working knowledge of genealogical sources commonly used by genealogists and be familiar with the Genealogical Proof Standard (GPS) and the Friends, Associates, and Neighbors (FAN) club. Students need some online experience with Ancestry, FamilySearch, and Fold3 with limited knowledge of researching available military databases and finding aids. Though not required, students would benefit from having access to a laptop or notebook tablet.
These are recommendations published guides for twentieth-century research, available online for free download:
The proposed course includes a combination of traditional lectures and case study practicums to delve into the course’s military classes. The overall course is intended to provide the maximum return over the short term:
NOTE:
Sessions will be recorded and available through Friday, 11 July 2025, at 11:59 PM ET.
All times are listed in Eastern Time.
Live Sessions may be subject to schedule adjustments by your course coordinator.
Day | Session | Time | Session Title | Description | Instructor |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Monday 23 June |
Intro | 10:00 – 10:30 AM | Intro to Course and Materials | Meet your fellow classmates | Strauss |
1 | 10:30 – 11:45 AM | Some Assembly Required | “Some assembly required” is the mantra when researching military records. Military conflicts, large and small, are woven throughout American history, resulting in records documenting not just the soldier’s military service but that of his family and friends. Before delving into the records documenting two centuries of conflicts, we must identify the conflicts to identify our ancestors who served. | Rumble | |
2 | Noon – 1:15 PM | Introduction to the Records of the National Archives | The branches of the United States government have collected historically significant materials and made them available for research. Over time, there has been significant record loss, which has prompted our government to look to place priceless documents in a safe, guarded environment for the general public to access for research. This lecture will introduce the student to the records, cataloging, and organization of the National Archives, Archives II, and the National Personnel Record Center in St. Louis, Missouri. | Strauss | |
3 | 2:15 – 3:30 PM | The Draft and the Selective Service System | The history of the draft and conscripting men for military service dates back to the days of the Revolutionary War. Individual colonies were given the authority to draft men who were called up for militia service. It wasn’t until the Civil War that the first national legislation in 1862 was passed that would enact a national draft. Since then, several Selective Service Acts in 1917, 1940, 1948, and 1967 have accounted for men who would serve their country in times of crisis. | Strauss | |
4 | 3:45 PM – 5 PM | Practicum Number 1: Draft and Selective Service Records | Students will each receive assigned packets of draft records from the Civil War and one randomly assigned from one of the twentieth-century Selective Service Acts with time prearranged to study, read, and analyze the records and to respond to a critical thinking exercise. | Strauss | |
Tuesday 24 June |
5 | 10:30 – 11:45 AM | Military Service Records and Personnel | The Compiled Military Service Records were first indexed, organized, and cataloged under the direction of General Frederick C. Ainsworth, head of the Record and Pension Office. The records cataloged cover volunteer soldiers from the Revolutionary War to the Philippine Insurrection. By the twentieth century, these records became obsolete and replaced by the Official Military Personnel Files, where the latter are in the custody of the National Personnel Record Center in St. Louis, Missouri. This office is the repository of millions of military records for personnel, medical, and payroll records of discharged and deceased veterans of all the services during the twentieth century. In 1973, a disastrous fire destroyed or damaged a significant collection of the service records of the U.S. Army and the Air Force, where our discussion will focus on reconstructing lost records. | Strauss |
6 | Noon – 1:15 PM | The Adjutant Generals Office (AGO) | The records of the Adjutant General office add general correspondence, polish, shine, and sometimes tarnish to the service of our ancestors. These records The records of the Adjutant General office add general correspondence, polish, shine, and sometimes tarnish to the service of our ancestors. These records reveal minute details of service and conflicts between the state the volunteer troops served from and the Federal government. | Rumble | |
7 | 2:15 – 3:30 PM | Tracing the Movements of a Military Unit | Tracing the movements of a military unit can add depth to any ancestor’s military service to know not only what unit where service was rendered. An understanding of the lineage of the military unit and the command structure will help determine the events that the regiment actively participated in during any given war period. This lecture focuses on a wide variety of records to trace the steps of military units since the colonial period. | Strauss | |
8 | 3:45 PM – 5 PM | Practicum Number 2: Service Records & Personnel | Students will each receive assigned packets of Compiled Military Service Records and Official Military Personnel Files, with time allotted to read and analyze the material and respond to critical thinking exercises. | Strauss | |
Wednesday 25 June |
9 | 10:30 – 11:45 AM | Militia and Records of the National Guard | The earliest Colonial Militia date to 1636 when the Massachusetts Bay Colony organized separate companies. Defending the frontier and providing for the common defense has always been at the heart of militia service. St. Clair’s military defeat at the hands of the Indians in 1791 led to the passage of the Militia Acts of 1792, which authorized the President to take command of the state militias in times of national emergency or insurrection. Starting afterward, individual states would have their own National Guard in some manner where today, it still provides defense for the nation. | Strauss |
10 | Noon – 1:15 PM | Congress to the Rescue | When damages resulted during a war, the soldier or his heirs could petition the Legislature to pass a private law to address a specific grievance. Congress When damages resulted during a war, the soldier or his heirs could petition the Legislature to pass a private law to address a specific grievance. Congress passed private laws designed to benefit a specific named person(s), compensate for damages caused by troops, grant pensions to heirs otherwise ineligible to
receive or inherit a pension and resolve service issues. |
Rumble | |
11 | 2:15 – 3:30 PM | Bounty Lands & Homesteading | Between 1812 and 1855, Congress created an ever-changing landscape of bounty land laws, from the military tracts allocated for bounty lands, length of service for a soldier to qualify for lands, the ability for his widow or heirs to inherit his rights, and under what conditions. After discontinuing the bounty land program, Congress awarded veterans of U.S. military service credit for military time served that could be applied to the popular homesteading Between 1812 and 1855, Congress created an ever-changing landscape of bounty land laws, from the military tracts allocated for bounty lands, length of service for a soldier to qualify for lands, the ability for his widow or heirs to inherit his rights, and under what conditions. After discontinuing the bounty land program, Congress awarded veterans of U.S. military service credit for military time served that could be applied to the popular homesteading program. This popular program was used until the end of the homesteading program in 1976, providing a vehicle for soldiers from WW1 and WW2 to benefit from the government’s largess. | Rumble | |
12 | 3:45 PM – 5 PM | Practicum Number 3: Bounty Lands & Homestead Records | Each Student will delve into the lands receied by two soldiers, one who received bounty lands and one who received credit for his service toward homestead lands. | Rumble | |
Thursday 26 June |
13 | 10:30 – 11:45 AM | Headed to Court | In the civilian world, civil and criminal trials and the attendant prison terms generate a paper trail that can be unraveled years later. Courts-martial and captain masts are the military equivalents of these common “civilian” trials. Just as we wouldn’t overlook these valuable records in our everyday courthouse research, these records are invaluable in shedding light on our soldiers and sailor’s time serving in the military. | Rumble |
14 | Noon – 1:15 PM | 19th Century Military Pensions | In 1833, the Commissioner of Pensions (eventually the Bureau of Pensions) was created by Congress as an office in the War Department, making the Army responsible for administering their veterans’ pensions. The Bureau formalized the application process and had the authority to determine which claims were approved or denied. Formalized processes, including the ability to appeal determinations and requesting benefits or increases due to deteriorating health, exponentially increasing the amount of paperwork available to researchers. | Rumble | |
15 | 2:15 – 3:30 PM | 20th Century Military Pensions and Claim Files | Records of pensions and military claim files for veterans and their dependents are available for inspection from the National Personnel Record Center in St. Louis, Missouri. The files often include details on immediate family members who may have survived well into the twentieth century, where researchers can access rich genealogical information not available in other commonly used military resources. | Strauss | |
16 | 3:45 PM – 5 PM | Practicum Number 4: Military Pensions & Claims Files | Each student will explore a small pension or claims file to become familiar with the forms, affidavits (FAN club members), and other genealogically relevant information found in the file. | Rumble | |
Friday 27 June | 17 | 10:30 – 11:45 AM | Using Diplomatic Records in Military Research | Researching diplomatic and consular records tells an untold story of military history. Records include the Continental Congress during the Revolutionary War and afterward as a Republic inside the records of the United States Department of State. Some of the untapped sources in diplomatic records include letters of marque, prize cases, pensions for privateers, seaman protection certificates, passports, and enemy alien records among others. | Strauss |
18 | Noon – 1:15 PM | Following the Armies: Military Maps on the Road to Victory | Military maps are invaluable sources of information for determining where our ancestors may have served in a specific conflict. Having knowledge of your ancestor’s military unit or organization can help place his regiment, battalion, brigade, or division on the field to determine the precise footsteps your family trod during a specific engagement. This lecture focuses on those maps that contain valuable military information on units and organizations from the colonial period through the Vietnam War. | Strauss |