04 Aug Military Archives, Ho!

Yesterday, i visited the National Archives in College Park, MD, casually referred to as A2. NARA kindly offers an hourly shuttle bus back and forth between the two – which i’m grateful for, as even on a direct short bus shuttle, it took just over 40 minutes. I can’t imagine how long it would have taken by public transportation (although, the shuttle is actually for employees and if i ever can’t fit on the bus, i’ll learn right quick).

A few years ago (i should have written down when!), all current military records starting with WWI were moved to A2. Supposedly. My research is in a very awkward position. The US didn’t enter WWI until 1917, the war started in 1914, Haiti was occupied in 1915. Which means the really dull stuff, like daily diary logs, monthly operations and intelligence summary reports, are all at the DC location, and the JAG files, geological surveys, maps, photos, illustrations, etc., are all in MD. I had just finished going through the daily and monthly files through 1926 when i then popped over and started looking at the court cases that happened between 1915 – 1926, so i had a great sense of how the communication had gone to get to the hearings, but had to actually dig around in my brain to keep the timeline straight. Also, daily diary reports and monthly reports have been filed separately. So i now have three time lines going: Daily Diaries, Monthly Reports, Court Martials and Hearings.

Unfortunately, the geological surveys were never catalogued, and it’s going to take some time to figure out which of the 138 boxes i need. On that note, i will make one small comment about the difference in helpfulness, organisation, and general feel between the two archive centres. I think i’ve been spoiled by the amazing librarians at the University of Washington Libraries, and the INCREDIBLE archive librarians (specifically, Mark Kuestner and Gay Walker) at Reed College (who, by the way, rocked my world when they went into the archives and scanned the documents i needed while i’m here in DC). And i was given such hope at the DC archives that my work would be made easier by the staff there (they are SO delightful, and have bent over backwards to make my work there enjoyable, easy, and fun).

And then i got to MD.

The front desk and security staff are wonderful, but the archivists, you know, the ones who are supposed to help you find files, help you fill out the papers to get files, and the ones who run the files desk – not so much. One nice young man took pity on me after i’d very frustratedly not been helped, then was poorly and rudely helped. He took my slip immediately (rather than making me wait the 1.5 hours i would have had to wait for the general pull time), and got me my records within 20 minutes. I should really get his name and send in a comment card. I’m going to see if there are any guest archive helpers who specialise in military records at the DC archive before i try to fill out any more pull slips.