Women's Research Resource: Across the Generations

Across the Generations: Exploring U.S. History Through Family Papers is a digital collection available on The Smith College Libraries website.

The introduction to this collection makes it clear that it doesn't matter if your family isn't represented in a manuscript collection it still can have importance to your research. "Family papers contain a wealth of information. Most obviously, the history of a particular family can be learned by examining the records a family leaves behind. At the same time, the larger trends and events can be traced within the records of one family."

Documents in this collection have been divided into themes that include Family Life, Social Awareness and Reform, Arts and Leisure and Work.

Church Record Sunday: 1828 Quaker Census

As genealogists researching American ancestors, one record set we focus on is census records. Now we tend to think of this mostly in terms of the U.S. Federal Census but most genealogists are also aware there are state and territorial census records as well.

But the government wasn't the only entity counting its population, some religious groups have also taken a census. One example is this counting of  Quakers in 1828, available from the Family History Library on microfilm.

Quaker Census of 1828: Members of the New York Meeting, the Religious Society of Friends (in New York, Ontario, Vermont, Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Quebec) at the time of the seperation in 1828.

Remembering Pearl Harbor: Researching Your World War II Soldier

The following are some resources for researching your World War II soldier.

Books

Gawne, Jonathan. Finding Your Father's War: A Practical Guide to Researching and Understanding Service in the World War Ii U.s. Army. Philadelphia: Casemate, 2006.

Knox, Debra J. World War II Military Records: A Family Historian's Guide. Spartanburg, SC: MIE Pub, 2003.

Johnson, Richard S, and Debra J. Knox. How to Locate Anyone Who Is or Has Been in the Military: Armed Forces Locator Guide. Spartanburg, SC: MIE Pub, 1999.

Websites

Veterans Service Records

U.S. Department of Veterans Nationwide Gravesite Locator

American Battle Monuments Commission 

How to Trace Your US Military Ancestors

Cyndi’s List: World War II 

Research Military Records (NARA) 

World War II APOs (a previous blog posting from Gena's Genealogy)

 

Women's Research Resource: Women Veterans

From: http://www.flickr.com/photos/usnationalarchives/5532511896/

As we remember those who served during World War II and Pearl Harbor Day, consider the following sources in researching military women ancestors.

When researching any ancestor it is vital to learn about the time period and what life was like during that time and under those circumstances.  Military Women Veterans:  Yesterday-Today-Tomorrow includes information on stories of women who have served from Revolutionary War to the present. There is a link for each conflict including World War II.

Experiencing War: Women at War is a project of the Veteran’s History Project. Twelve women’s stories are available on  video and audio to download and listen to. You must have  Real Player to listen and view the films, which is a free download with a link available at the site. These  interviews represent civilian and military women serving during World War II to the Persian Gulf. 

Similarly, the Idaho State Historical Society has a  Women in World War II Veteran’s History Project. There is a  Finding Aid to this collection . This collection includes 48 interviews with women who served or were somehow affected by the war.  Interviews include a Japanese American woman who was interred at Camp Minidoka, a woman who was in the British Royal Air Force, women who were in various branches of the military, and a woman who was part of the underground in the Netherlands.  These stories bring alive the experience of women during this time period and can provide those of us who were not part of this era  with some ideas about what life was like and women’s contributions during this time.

Idaho is not the only state that have or currently capturing the stories of women veterans.  Maine  and  North Carolina have similar projects. A project that chronicles Rhode Island women’s experience is called “What did you do in the War Grandma.”

Church Record Sunday: A Blog Post about Online Sources

Typically, for me, Church Record Sunday looks at a source for a religion or denomination's records. This week I would like to highlight a post I came across on the blog Religion in the American West. The post entitled, Religion in the 19th-Century West: Primary Sources Online by Joshua Paddison includes links to newspapers, books and pamphlets, manuscript collections and images. While some of the links are related to sources for Mormon pioneers there are many that would be helpful for anyone's research.

Take some time to browse older posts on this blog. I found quite a few that would be of interest to genealogists including Mapping Religion and  New Digital Archive for Native American History.