As the nation honors our servicemen and women this week, you may wish to research your family members who have served our country. Two new databases offered as part of the Arkansas State Library Traveler Project can help you locate military service records and much more.
ProQuest African American Heritage
is a unique resource for locating African American family history, including marriage, birth and death records, census materials, WPA interviews, and Freedman’s Bank records as well military records. ProQuest African American Heritage offers these tools for locating those who have served in the armed forces:
- U.S. Colored Troops Service Records — The compiled records of volunteer Union soldiers who served with the United States Colored Troops from 1861–1865.
- World War I Draft Registrations — America entered World War I on April 6, 1917. Out of the total 24 million U.S. draft registrations from 1917 and 1918, nearly 2,000,000 records were from African Americans.
- World War II Draft Registrations — The so-called ‘old man’s registration’ of 1942, this is the only one of seven World War II draft registrations currently available to the public. (Privacy laws determine when records are made public.) The men included in this registration were between the ages of 45 and 64, and although required to register, were deemed too old to serve.
WWII records for the following states (and Puerto Rico) are complete:
- Connecticut
- Delaware
- Maryland
- Massachusetts
- New Hampshire
- New Jersey
- Pennsylvania
- Puerto Rico
- Rhode Island
- Vermont
- Virginia
- West Virginia
WWII records for the following states are incomplete:
- Arkansas
- California
- Indiana
- New York
- Ohio
WWII records for the following states were destroyed by fire and are therefore unavailable:
- Alabama
- Florida
- Georgia
- Kentucky
- Mississippi
- North Carolina
- South Carolina
- Tennessee
HeritageQuest Online
is a more general genealogy tool, with unique primary sources, local and family histories, convenient research guides, interactive census maps, and more. HeritageQuest includes U.S. Federal Censuses, 1790-1940, genealogical and local history books and directories, Congressional materials from the U.S. Serial Set, and Periodical Source Index Archive, an index to genealogical publications from 1800-2009.
HeritageQuest online offers several collections of military records:
- Revolutionary war pension and bounty land records
- U.S. Records of Confederate Prisoners of War, 1861-1865
- U.S. Remarried Widows Index to Pension Applications, 1887-1942
- Confederate Veterans and Widows Pension Applications, 1885-1955, for selected states
- Enlistment records for the United States Navy, 1855-1891
Learn more about HeritageQuest Online from the LibGuide prepared by ProQuest.
Beyond the Libraries
Beyond our local collections are several freely available sources to help you locate military records. Places to start include:
- The National Park Service’s Civil War Soldiers and Sailors System (CWSS)
Information on individuals as well as regimental histories, prisoner of war and cemetery records, and battle plans. - The Library of Congress’ Veterans History Project
Personal accounts of veterans from World War I through the Iraq War. - The National Archives’ Online Veterans and Military Documents
Includes casualty lists from World War II, Korean and Vietnam Wars as well as selectively digitized records from the Revolutionary, Civil, and Spanish-American Wars and World War I. - Fold3 Historical Military Records
This subscription service to explore a wide range of military records but offers free trials and a limited free basic subscription after individual registration.