Military Record, personal copy

By Anonymous on Wed, 01/09/2013 - 14:41

Forums

I have my uncle's typed "AAF Officers' Qualification Record" from World War II; this document is signed in ink by my uncle.  The form itself seems similar to a DD-214, listing his training, duty stations, next of kin, etc.  How do I cite a privately held military personnel record? 

Submitted byEEon Wed, 01/09/2013 - 16:19

Mary, have you tried EE 3.25, "Basic Format, Family Artifacts"?  This is part of the "Privately Held Materials" section of the chapter on Archives & Artifacts.

Submitted byMary P Nelsonon Fri, 01/11/2013 - 14:24

Thanks for clarifying this.  I kept vacillating between citing it as a military record or as privately held material.

Submitted byEEon Sat, 01/12/2013 - 10:30

Mary, the document itself is both a military record and a personal artifact. Many records have this dual nature. From a citation standpoint, the difference is custody. Given that the document is privately held, it would not be possible to cite it using a format needed for a military record that is held by an archives, For that kind of document, we would have to identify the file, the collection, the series, the record group, etc., in order to locate it again. For documents that are privately held, we need a different set of data for the "custody" issue.

Submitted byHiztorybuffon Sat, 01/26/2013 - 17:23

I'm trying to understand the dual nature of some records. Since I personally obtained US Navy Personnel records from the military, would I cite those as military records using 11.32 Compiled Service Records, even though they were not from the National Archives? This document contains the personnel file, including enlistments, service records, misconduct reports, and discharge papers, of one US Navy officer.  I'm thinking these could also be cited using 3.13 Basic Format: Artifacts. Which would be more appropriate?

Submitted byEEon Sun, 01/27/2013 - 18:11

Hiztorybuff: You do not say where you obtained the Navy Personnel records, only that they were not from the National Archives.

Provenance is a critical issue. Records held in a specific repository need to be cited to that repository, in a way that they can be retrieved at that repository—which means that your citation needs to identify the record by whatever file ID, collection ID, and record group names/numbers that repository uses. For example:

  • If your records came from the National Personnel Records Center, Military Personnel Records (NPRC-MPR) at St. Louis, you would not cite it the way you would cite a NARA-held Compiled Military Service Record, which is a radically different critter.
  • If your set of records is a file that a person maintained for himself during his career and still privately held, then: yes, the file would be cited as a private artifact.
  • If your set of records did come from a repository such as NPRC-MPR, then citing your file as a privately held artifact would be of limited value to those who need access in the future. It might also raise integrity and provenance issues, given the lack of assurance that the file is complete or that outside materials have not been introduced.

If your file did come from the NPRC-MPR, have you seen our existing thread on citing those files? https://www.evidenceexplained.com/content/wwi-military-personnel-records-st-louis

I did see the thread you mentioned AFTER I posted this question. My records did come from the NPRC-MPR and I found your citation recommendation to be very helpful. My records were Navy records from WWI.