Confused by Pension Record Example

By Obsessed_Genie on Sat, 10/19/2024 - 01:04

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I'm looking at the examples of US pension records examples from EE4 12.35 (which is the same as EE3 11.40). The first layer relates to the record in question, which I understand. The second layer in the first three examples is "Case Files of Approved Pension Applications..., 1861-1934", which is the series. My confusion comes with the third layer - "Civil War and Later Pension Files". The fourth later is fine, "Record Group 15: Records of the Department of Veterans Affairs" which is the Record Group and its description, and the final layer is the repository.

The only thing I can find in the National Archives that is similar to this is "General Index to Civil War and Later Pension Files, ca. 1949-ca. 1949", which is a series. But it isn't the same as "Civil War and Later Pension Files". 

The 4th example has a series of "Case Files of Rejected Pension Applications, Indian Wars", with "Records of the Bureau of Pensions and Its Predecessors". This makes even less sense to me, as the Bureau of Pensions was a predecessor agency to the Department of Veterans affairs.

What is it that goes in this third layer?

Submitted byEEon Sat, 10/19/2024 - 09:47

Hello, Obsessed_Genie:

You ask "What is it that goes in this third layer?"  When we are citing archived records (the original documents) the words we put in the third layer—or the first, second, fourth, fifth, or sixth—depend upon the specific record set and how many organizational layers there are for that record set. 

You reference "Case Files of Approved Pension Applications" cited at 12.35 and say "the only thing [you] can find in the National Archives that is similar to this is "General Index to ..."  The case files referenced at 12.35 and the index to the case files are radically different materials.

This brings up a related issue: when you say "the only thing [you] can find in the National Archives that is similar to this," are you referring to a search you made at the National Archives itself (the physical facility) or are you referring to your search of the NARA website, which has only a small fraction of the documents that exist physically within NA? The website also uses a newer identification system and the website has its own architecture (which we identify in terms of path and waypoints). All of this is why we have to cite exactly what we use and don’t borrow citations from elsewhere that are likely not to fit what we have at hand.

In each EE example, the descriptive title for the file  unit, the collection, the sub-series (if one is involved), the series, and the record group are all the exact titles assigned by NARA for the original files. When you are at the National Archives doing research in these original documents, the needed information will appear on the boxes and files that you receive for examination. When we report those lengthy labels, we do not deviate from the exact wording or try to truncate a long label; doing so will usually cause problems when someone attempts to relocate the record.

If you have a professional researcher or record retriever obtain these records for you at NARA, then they should provide the specific details for the file unit, collection, series, and record group.

This hierarchical data also appears in the NARA inventory, preliminary inventory, or NM (non-published manuscript) inventory that NARA has created for that set of records. If you have gone to the NARA website to consult its guide to Record Group 15 (https://www.archives.gov/research/guide-fed-records/groups/015.html), you will note that throughout the discussion, as each category of records is presented (a highly selective list of record types that represent only a fraction of the whole), the discussion also identifies a "finding aid" that gives more information. That finding aid—which NARA staffers use to retrieve the records for you—also identifies the specific labels on the collections, series, and record groups in which each file is archived. Most of these inventories are now imaged online at Archive.org, FamilySearch.org, Google Books, or HathiTrust.org.

Th holdings of the National Archives are mammoth and complex. Some are available online at the NARA website. Some are available online at FamilySearch. Some are available online at the websites of commercial providers.  Wherever we find them, we cite exactly what we use.

If we cite the online providers, we should never attempt to cite those materials as though we are using the original documents at NARA itself. That is why EE gives specific examples for both the originals and online offerings.  It's also why EE's chapter 12: National Government Records begins with a discussion of how these records are organized and how a citation follows that organization. See particularly EE12.2.  Also, in Chapter 14: Legal Works & Government Documents, at 14.36 through 14.42, you will find a lengthy discussion of all these different types of NARA finding aids.

Given all this, let us back up to the beginning and ask: What are you trying to cite and where did you find it?

Submitted byEEon Sat, 10/19/2024 - 10:23

Obsessed_Genie, you also write:

The 4th example has a series of "Case Files of Rejected Pension Applications, Indian Wars", with "Records of the Bureau of Pensions and Its Predecessors". This makes even less sense to me, as the Bureau of Pensions was a predecessor agency to the Department of Veterans affairs.

Many government agencies had former names. Each agency, at the time it created a record set, organized its content in some fashion so that the individual records could be retrieved when needed. Labels for file units, collections, or series were created by them in order to do that. When agency names changed, no file clerks went back and changed the labels on the earlier files to reflect the new name of the agency.