First Trip to the NPRC--Help?

Hi All...

I'm planning on making my first trip to the NPRC in St. Louis to look at some Morning Reports in the Archival Research Room.

Ideally I'll go next week, but I'm not sure how much advance notice I need to give. I know you have to make an appointment in advance, but the NARA website doesn't say how much notice is required. The records I want are on microfiche so I don't think they'll need to do any preservation work like with hard copies, but I don't know. Any thoughts? Would planning a trip for next week be too soon? Flight prices aren't an issue as I can fly standby on Delta thanks to a family connection.

Also, if any of you have made this trip and can recommend a decent hotel in the area that would sure be swell.


Thanks!

 

I tried to visit a couple years ago, when my sister was living in the St. Louis area. Ran into the "appointment" issue and I seem to remember it required a couple week notice. I think only a limited (set) number of researchers can be in there at once due to limited staff. I felt like the NPRC website left me with questions regarding just how the system works anyway, so I gave up and had Geoff at Golden Arrow take care of things.

Wish I could be more help. Let us know how things go if you make the trip.

Steve

 

Thanks for the reply Steve!

I agree, the website isn't very forthcoming informationally, in a lot of ways. Hence my post.

In the past I too have given up on the idea of going to the NPRC myself, and have contracted Geoff at GAR to get me what I need. He's come through with flying colors on several occasions in the past.

I'm still left with that DIY urge though I guess! I called the NPRC, got a voice mail, used their suggested email address and sent in my request, along with the form they require for new researchers. I guess we'll wait and see if they call me back.

 

I hear ya! I was excited about going too but doubt I will now. I've been interested in visiting the Combined Arms Research Library (CARL) at Ft. Leavenworth but it's tough to find much online about the research facilities for a civilian. They have loads of digitized TD files online but many were scanned so poorly they're illegible. I've wondered if the originals are still there? Haven't gotten the motivation to dig into it deeper so far. The ease of researching at Eisenhower spoiled me!

 

Really now?

THAT is an interesting thought.

Coincidentally and conveniently I'll be in Leavenworth this weekend, visiting a Lt. Col. friend of mine who is posted there (for the second time, so he might know the ins and outs pretty well). I can pick his brain and see what he knows.

The Eisenhower Library is another trip I'd like to take!

 

I went to the EPL a couple years ago and had a great time doing it. As Steve said, its a researcher friendly place. They do not have complete records there, but they have quite a bit. And don't be surprised if you come across some very interesting items that you don't expect and aren't looking for. And, not far from Abilene is the US Cavalry Museum at Fort Riley, KS. I didn't have the opportunity to go there, but will if I make the trip again.

 

I would definitely be interested in any info you can gather about researching at Leavenworth. Also anything regarding civilian entry to the base.

Tom and I can give you some info on Eisenhower if you make the trip in the future.

Thanks.

 

Awesome, thanks gentlemen. My buddy is apparently going to get me into the CARL at Ft. Leavenworth this Saturday--I'll figure out how it all works and will update everyone next week.

 

Hello from St. Louis! I just got back to my hotel from my first day researching at the NPRC. I can't stress enough how kind and helpful the staff are there. It's daunting at the beginning but once you get the hang of how things work, it's pretty much a candy store to be enjoyed. Amazing material.

Re: CARL...

I went there this past Saturday, with a buddy of mine who is stationed at Ft. Leavenworth. Because I was with him we got right on post, but if you are a civilian and want to go alone, you have to go through a screening process that takes some time, depending on how big a line there is. The rules were changed and toughened (taking effect literally the day I was there), and now it's much harder (read: takes longer) to get on post. Basically they need to verify your identity, run you through law enforcement databases and see if you have any prior felonies, etc. (if you have any you're out of luck).

Once you're on post though it's pretty easy to get to the CARL. It's just like any other library--they have a children's section and everything. But their military collection is of course impressive. I asked at the desk about civilian rules. Anyone is allowed to come and do research on site. You need to be either active duty or retired military to check anything out and remove it however. That's basically the gist of it.

Back to the NPRC for one more day tomorrow. I got about a third of the docs I needed to get. Hopefully the rest will come faster, now that I know my way around and have a workflow down.

Adam

 

That green glow you may see in the northern sky is a whole lot of envy emanating from a certain Forum Trustee residing in the North Star State.

Thanks for the info on NPRC and CARL.

 

Thanks for the update, Adam. Sounds like you were able to jump right in with both feet at NPRC. Hope you were able to finish your research and get all the records you were interested in.

Regarding CARL, it's a shame that you will likely spend the first day unable to accomplish any work. If someone had bothered to check the quality of the scans they did on tank and TD unit files originally, there would be no need for a visit. It's always something!!

 

Adam,

It looks like you were doing what I need to do: search morning reports and rosters in lieu of my father's OMPF which was destroyed in 1973. Given what you learned, is it reasonable to try to review 16 months of records (for a single battalion) in one day or is that likely to take more time? Fortunately, the NPRC is local to me -- the other end of town, so about an hour drive.

Thanks!

Ray

 

Hi Ray--

Honestly it depends on what you're trying to accomplish. Do you just want to look at the info quickly, or do you want to take it home with you for review?

I did 30 months of battalion morning reports in two days. Roughly 11 hours of actual data mining, once I did the new researcher orientation they require and I learned how the process all works (learning to use their index system to locate the records you need, filling out pull slips, using the microfilm readers, etc). In that time I was able to take pics of the microfilm reader machine screen of every MR for each of five component units of the entire battalion I was looking for, from its inception in Apr 43 through deactivation in Sep 45.

I took screen pictures to avoid their $0.40 per page microfilm-to-paper copy fee. They didn't mind me using a camera and although not ideal, I saved a LOT of money. The images are readable so that's all that matters. Some of the film was blurry to begin with, but if the item was legible on screen, I got a good shot of it.

Each roll of microfilm I reviewed contained one month of MRs for each of the battalion's units. It took me about 15 minutes to photo one reel, so I got four months done per hour basically.

BUT... it depends on what kind of a battalion you're looking for. Mine was a Glider Field Arty Battalion, with five component units (HQ, HQ Btry, A Btry, B Btry and Medical Detachment). A standard leg infantry battalion is going to have more component units to worry about--Battalion HQ, Battalion HQ Company (I found these two entities, while usually together, actually kept separate MRs so you have to account for them), four line companies and Medical Detachment. So that will add to your time a bit.

Anything prior to Aug 43 will take a little less time, as the MR format was more compact and they wrote a month's worth of info on four or five pages total. In Aug 43 they changed the form and it became more of a daily thing instead of monthly digest.

Sorry, that got a bit windy. Short answer... It's probably realistic to plan for a couple of days. At least you live in the area though! That will make it easier.

To Natman's point about the blurriness of the original scans, I ran into that several times myself. Perhaps ironically, as I was finishing up yesterday, the staff caused some considerable commotion among all the researchers (who are mostly pros and there every day) by setting up a brand-new computerized scan reader that optimizes images and has the ability to decipher basically unreadable text. The tech setting it up was bragging it up, saying that he set one up for a city archive in Missouri and asked them to bring him their toughest image to see what the thing could do with it. They brought him a "basically black" image, that the machine was able to read! Never before had they seen what was on that image--turned out to be a land record from the 1840s.

Ah technology. I guess I have reason to go back already now!

Adam

 

At $0.40 per page, a year of MRs could get $$$. I'm hoping to see each day's report, look for my dad's name and print anything that mentions him. I don't know what I'll find, but can't imaging I'd find his name more than a few times. Maybe I should bring a camera, though, just in case. I should be looking for MRs for a single battery of a single battalion for 16 months or until I find him coming or going. My appointment is for a week from tomorrow.

Ray

 

I'd bring a camera. Better safe than sorry and it doesn't cost you anything.

Do you know your dad's battery now, or do you have to search for him amongst the battalion's various batteries first?

 

It should be Battery D. What's most questionable for me is how I have a picture of him in a uniform with only an ADSEC COMMZ patch. I'm assuming that at some point he was in that organization then moved into the 549th AAA Battalion, or the other way around. His Discharge Document shows BTRY D 549TH AAABN so I assume that's where he was last assigned. Hopefully, next week I'll learn when he joined the 549th and from where.

 

You should certainly be able to find out exactly that, in the MRs for the 549th. They will definitely show when he joined the battery and from what organization.

I read your posts in the other thread (which I just noticed for the first time haha)... I'll post my additional comments there, just to keep things on-topic.

 

Hi Adam,

I spent the day on Friday at the NPRC. It took awhile for the orientation, viewer training and getting to know the index system. I'm sure I'll be more productive next time. One thing I realized part way through the day was to write down the item numbers for each month of reports in case I want to go back. I started looking for my dad's name and making copies of only those reports then I began to realize that camp names were changing and I hadn't paid attention to the days when Dad wasn't mentioned. So I'm going to have another look at some of the reels. As you suggested, I tried the camera and also made some paper copies. I actually like the camera copies better. The big problem with the camera method is the reflection off the viewer screen. Next time, I'll look for one in a better position, if possible.

I notice that you said that you did 30 months of five units. That's about 4,500 reports, isn't it? (30 months x 30 days x 5 units) I'm impressed. I only need to do one unit. Now that I've got a bit of experience, I'm hoping to get that done in one more day.

Ray

 

Hi Ray! Glad the trip was at least somewhat fruitful! Yes, you'll definitely get more done next time. Of my two days I probably spent 25-30% percent of the time learning the ropes. Once I did that I started to fly through stuff so any future trips will prove more productive for you in the same manner, I'm sure.

I was having reflection issues too. Some of the machines have an anti-reflection hood on them. Those hoods are attached by velcro and can be moved to different machines, so on day two of my trip I put one on a machine that wasn't lined up directly with an overhead light--that helped a lot. Look for a similar situation next time and you'll minimize those annoying reflections.

I did 30 months of 4-5 units yes. The 680th GFAB HQ Battery was treated as two separate units, and then joined as one unit, twice during the war, so sometimes "HQ" was different than "HQ Battery" and thus produced separate Morning Reports, and sometimes they were the same and only produced one report a day. Then I had A Battery, B Battery and the Medical Detachment. So it varied. But for most of the battalion's existence I was able to take one photo of every two days' MRs for a given unit. That cut down on the number of photos considerably and I ended up with just under 2,500 photos total.

It will take me a LONG time to go through these, run them through Photoshop to optimize them for legibility, etc. Some are sadly not ever going to be readable--even if I did get a good shot, the original reels themselves are very blurry in some instances. But, I'll do what I can do and hopefully be able to cross reference information from other sources to give some context to them. My goal is to create rosters with as much info as I can on every man in each unit (name, rank, ASN, MOS, etc) and be able to do a timeline of locations for each. That should keep me busy for the foreseeable future!

 

I'll say! Yeah, you are definitely into a much bigger project than I am. I'm just trying to get as much day-to-day info on my dad as I possibly can so I better understand where he was and with whom. I was wondering about the use of a tripod. I was thinking of taking a tripod next time, setting it up in front of the screen and using a remote shutter release. Once I get the first card on screen and focused, I should be able to shoot, advance, shoot, advance, and do a whole month in a couple of minutes. Did you use a tripod or just hold your camera in your hand?

I take it you were viewing two cards on the screen at once.

The reflection problem isn't so much the lights near you but the lights across the room behind you. I even tried a downward angle but I still couldn't avoid the reflection of the ceiling lights 20 feet behind me. I read somewhere about using a polarizing filter but I don't know if that would help or not.