Researching Civilian Employees of the Federal Government
This blog post is intended to get you started on researching civilians who worked for the Federal Government. Civilian employment also includes records for those who worked for the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) or Works Project Administration (WPA) employment.
Although this is one of the older publications, there is a section about civilian employees of the Federal Government beginning on page 30 of this document:
An important thing to know is that personnel records become archival 62 years after the person’s employment by the Federal Government has ended. This 62-year time is calculated on a rolling date. Before 62 years has elapsed, the records are non-archival.
Prior to 62 years after the end of a person’s employment as a civilian employee of the Federal Government, their Official Personnel Folders (OPF) can only be accessed by the employee or an authorized third-party requestor. During that time, only limited information may be released to the general public through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request.
The National Personnel Records Center’s (NPRC) Federal Records Center Program maintains the Official Personnel Folders (OPF) of former Federal civilian employees whose employment ended after 1952.
Learn how to access archival Official Personnel Folders (more than 62 years after the civilian employment ended) from: https://www.archives.gov/st-louis/opf
Once you know the agency where the civilian employee worked, look for its current website. In some cases, the name of the agency or its organization within the government may have changed, so investigate the history of the organization. Look for information about projects in which your ancestor had been involved.
Good luck researching your civilian employees of the Federal Government, and let me know how you do!
Genealogists know to look for all available sources of information when doing their reasonably exhaustive search. We also know to list the resources when creating reports and proof documents.
But how do we know what we don’t know?
The best way is to keep learning. Keep reading, seek out publications about topics of interest, attend webinars and learn from other genealogists.
A great place to look for source material is the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA). Without knowing what sources are available, searching using the catalog is daunting. With that in mind, this blog post contains some resources from NARA to learn more about a topic you are researching. The topics are discussed from the perspective of records that NARA holds, and they could help identify sources to help solve your genealogical problem.
NARA offers Reference Information Paper (RIP) with illustrated descriptions of specific topics. The descriptions show what can be found in several different NARA record groups (RG).
The RIPs that have been digitized and are online will show a link to view web version of the document. If there is a pdf icon displayed at the end of the link, that means that the RIP is available for download.
The RIPs that have no link associated with their description are unavailable. These appear to be those containing dated material.
NARA staff have also authored Research Reports, these are now called Reference Reports. Some are not up-to-date, and do not necessarily reflect everything that is now available online. They can provide good explanations and good ideas for what records might be available.
The Mount Vernon Genealogical Society Inc offers a page about NARA Research Reports. A good place to start would be with the Reference Reports Table. This document contains information about the status of Research Reports, as well as links to where they or similar information might be found. Links to these can be found at: https://www.mvgenealogy.org/fileDownload.php?sid=16
Recently I attended The Army Historical Foundation’s Genealogy Seminar at the National Museum of the United States Army. The Museum is located at Fort Belvoir, Virginia. You can read about that seminar in Army Historical Foundation’s Genealogy Seminar.
After the presentations, I had a little time to go through the Museum exhibits. As you might expect from my books and blogs posts, I headed to the first floor to look for the exhibits about WWI and WWII. With the Museum closing soon, I glanced around the Nation Overseas Gallery, which was about WWI. There is so little about the Pioneer Infantry Regiments in museums, and I was thinking this would be no exception. Then my husband pointed out the image of a soldier from the 2nd Pioneer Infantry Regiment. The photo showed Alex L. Wingo, a wagoner who served with the Supply Company of the 2nd Pioneer Infantry, on the right. (Mules were also featured on this display!) It was exciting to see one of the Pioneers featured in such a prominent place, in such a prominent museum.
Then I looked at the next image and it was of a soldier from Company L of the 806th Pioneer Infantry Regiment, Theodore C. Banks, who received the French Croix de Guerre for gallantry.
As you can imagine, I was very excited to see the Pioneer Infantry Regiments represented.
A little bit of research about these soldiers yielded some additional information. Liner Alex Wingo was from Roebuck, SC., and muster rolls told more about his service. He enlisted on 25 May 1918, and on 8 July 1918 he was appointed a Wagoner in the Supply Company of the 2nd Pioneer Infantry Regiment. From US Army Transport Service records, confirmed by Find A Grave, his brother Wagoner Guy H. Wingo served in the same company. From a photo on Find A Grave, the man on the left in this picture appears to be his brother. He returned to the US with a casual company on 25 May 1919.
Corporal Theodore Christopher Banks was from Salina, KS, and served with Company H of the 806th Pioneer Infantry Regiment. (In the rosters there was a soldier of this name in Company H who served from Aug 1918 to Aug 1919. There was no soldier named Banks in the rosters for Company L.) He enlisted on 5 August 1918 and ended his service on 19 August 1919. He began his service as a Private, and was promoted to Private 1CL in October 1918. He was then promoted to Corporal in June 1919. (His VA Master Index Card shows his birth year in 1896, while other records show the year as 1903.)
Of course, I was so excited that the Pioneer Infantry Regiments were represented in the Nation Overseas Gallery, that when a Docent said hello, I shared that with him. Docent Jim was interested in what I had found, so as we walked over to the pictures, I shared a little bit about the Pioneers, and told him about the books I had written.
Personally, I always ask a docent questions if I have any. When I do not have a question, I ask these dedicated and trained people about the areas of the museum which coincide with my areas of interest. One of my favorite questions is to ask about the highlights, especially when there is little time.
So I asked Docent Jim about highlights of the WWII exhibits and he had the time to lead us through the Global War Gallery. He showed us some very interesting highlights and the stories behind some of the displayed equipment.
Without a doubt I must return to this Museum when I have more time to tour it properly. There are audio tours available, and while I might use them, I will always ask questions of the docents.
Thank you, Docent Jim.
And to thank you to the soldiers of the Pioneer Infantry Regiments for their service in the Great War.
A little bit of research about these soldiers yielded some additional information. Liner Alex Wingo was from Roebuck, SC., and muster rolls told more about his service. He enlisted on 25 May 1918, and on 8 July 1918 he was appointed a Wagoner in the Supply Company of the 2nd Pioneer Infantry Regiment. From the US ATS and FindAGrave, Wagoner Guy H. Wingo was his brother. From a photo on FindAGrave, the man on the left in this picture appears to be his brother. He returned to the US with a casual company on 25 May 1919. Corporal Theodore Christopher Banks was from Salina, KS, and served with Company H of the 806th Pioneer Infantry Regiment. (There was a soldier of this name in Company H who served from Aug 1918 to Aug 1919. There was no soldier named Banks in the rosters of Company L.) He enlisted on 5 August 1918 and ended his service on 19 August 1919. He began his service as a Private, and was promoted to Private 1CL in October 1918. He was promoted to Corporal in June 1919. (His VA Master Index Card shows his birth year in 1896, while other records show the year as 1903.)
On 11 May 2024 I attended The Army Historical Foundation’s Genealogy Seminar, hosted at the National Museum of the United States Army. The seminar was entitled “Unlock your military legacy.” There were attendees both in person and online, and I was able to attend in person.
The speaker lineup was impressive: Richard G. Sayre, COL (USA-Ret.), Pamela Boyer Sayre, and Rebecca Whitman Koford, CG, CGL. Many of you know Rick and Pam from their outstanding presentations. Among her many accomplishments and extensive service to the genealogical community, Rebecca currently works as Executive Director of the Board for Certification of Genealogists® and is the Director of the Genealogical Institute on Federal Records (Gen-Fed) which is held annually at the National Archives in Washington, D.C.
Rebecca began the seminar with an excellent presentation about “Records of the U.S. Army held by the National Archives and Records Administration.” Sharing her hands-on experience, she demonstrated the types of records and how and where to locate them. Demonstrations of how to use the NARA Catalog are always beneficial. She also shared examples with us of records she had found about her ancestors.
“Map Repositories in the Washington D.C. Area” was next, and in that presentation Rick discussed more than the repositories; he explained the history of mapping in the US. It is significant to know about the maps, including who created them and their purpose. He showed what was on the maps and their usefulness for using them in the context of an ancestor’s war experience. He shared so many great examples!
After a delightful lunch, and having been inspired by the two previous presentations, I was ready for the next presentation. Pam presented “Tracking an Eighteenth or Nineteenth Century Soldier.” She showed us how to time travel using Google Earth Pro. First she demonstrating what could be done, then she explained the steps in detail for how to use those features to document your military ancestor’s life in a visual and engaging format. Not only is this a great way to share information with non-genealogists, but this is also a great technique for immersion into the context of an ancestor’s service. This is something I had been considering, and using her approach will make the task straightforward and manageable.
The last presentation was by Rick and Pam, “Learning About a Twentieth Century Soldier.” This session presented resources and brief case studies about researching the service of twentieth-century soldiers at NARA facilities. Rick and Pam decided to focus on WWI, and a follow-up presentation for learning about WWII soldiers will be recorded and distributed to attendees at a later date. After the resources were discussed, a clear methodology was presented. Of course that methodology included the use of one of my favorite tools, timelines. Rick clearly described the homework that a researcher needs to do before contacting and visiting a NARA facility.
The presentations were very practical in nature. While it is great to find out about resources and how to use them in your research, it is also important to know where and how to find them. Being able to use them and share them is also incredibly valuable. The NARA Catalog can be awkward to navigate, so insights that the speakers shared were appreciated. There are always things to learn from such distinguished genealogists.
The final presentation held a couple of surprises for me. Two of my books were listed in the bibliography for the final presentation. Of course I was delighted to be included. The real surprise is that Rick and Pam showed a slide that contained the cover of my recent book, “Researching U.S. WWI Military Members, Military Organizations and Overseas Noncombatants: A Research Guide for Historians and Genealogists” I was happy for my book to receive a shout out. (They had no idea I would be in the audience!) I was even happier to see that the Pioneer Infantry Regiments were also mentioned in the presentation. If that was not enough, I was delighted when Rick asked me unexpectedly to say a few words about the Pioneer Infantry Regiments. What a privilege, and how great to see the Pioneers’ stories being told.
This all-star line-up held an informative seminar and disseminated actionable information! Thank you!
In the next blog post I share more about my visit to the Museum after the seminars concluded.
It is difficult to tackle a review of such a definitive classic tome, but this newest edition does warrant the work involved in such an undertaking. Elizabeth Shown Mills has certainly invested the time to document what can be a daunting process to many, and to eliminate confusion about the topic with clear explanations.
New technology means more and different sources to cite, and the book has been expanded to conquer them all. It is difficult to imagine how this magic has been done, given that the page count of the book has been reduced from the 892 pages of the Third Edition (Revised) to 739 pages. Ms. Mills has accomplished this seeming legerdemain, not with a slight of hand, but through the use of templates.
The Fourth Edition now contains 14 templates, which are more general and concise than the Quickcheck Models of the previous edition. In each template, there is a first reference note, followed by construction notes explaining each part of the citation. These templates allow a user to build up their citation in a way that makes sense for their source, and for other sources that may not even exist yet.
While other reviewers have shared their views about the undeniable strengths of the evidence analysis process presented in this book, this engineer proposes to evaluate it under actual use conditions. For a book like the newest edition Evidence Explained, the best way to review it is to spend a little time using it.
The first thing I did was make sure I could still locate the straightforward information about which part of ships’ names are and are not italicized. For some reason, this is something I always need to double check. This small piece has remained the same between versions.
On a couple of recent occasions, I needed citation support that was beyond other sources, so I had good opportunities to work with the newer elements of the book.
I found myself needing to cite a college newsletter and yearbook for a very brief project. Wanting to make a good impression on the recipient, I needed Ms. Mills help, and her book did not disappoint me. Undoubtedly investing time in reading the book from cover to cover will yield a good return, but prior to completing that task I searched in the index for help.
Although I first thought to cite the yearbook and school newsletters, it was clear that this approach was flawed. The items requiring citations were in an online virtual archive, which is a Digital Collection. Using Section 4.15 and its examples within Online Images: Empasis on Document was the help I needed. This led me to more help offered by Template 10, Online Image (No Named Database), which was immediately bookmarked (with a sticky note).
Another case was the need to cite a private message sent to me via Facebook. Messages like this are interesting sources. Of course, they do not have the benefit of peer review or public review. They are unrecoverable by a reader. In this case, I needed to use a quote from the private message, and it was clear from the context and the subject area that it contained subjective data.
Checking the index for social media led me to explore the complexities of citing social media posts, but that was not what I needed for this citation. So, I located correspondence, personal in the index and investigated. This led me to Section 4.41 about Email & Instant Messages. One of the examples was for a Facebook direct message, which was exactly what I needed. Even though the example was sufficient for me to build the citation, this whole section sent me to Template 7 Private Holdings (Artifact or Manuscript Document) where further explanation could be found.
Citations accomplished!
I recommend checking out Section 2.10 for the Symbols & Terms that are used to flag citations. The symbols are good flags for the types of citations that I often use, and knowing where to start can be confusing without a reference. As we learn in the footnote, there are fewer examples for type CD-ROM, which makes sense because we are using them far less than we might have in the past in favor of their online replacements.
The sticky notes that were accrued in the Third Edition during my ProGen days have now been migrated to the Fourth Edition, and new sticky notes have joined them. I often return to my most used templates and the chapters that I seem to be needing a lot lately, Archives & Artifacts and Business & Institutional Records.
The Templates are a very useful update for this classic work, and the section about Generative AI (Artificial Intelligence) is one more way that Ms. Mills demonstrates that this reference does support you from artifacts all the way to cyberspace.
The book is available at Genealogical.com and other booksellers.
Notes: A review copy of the book was provided by the publisher. Like many other genealogists, I am a fan of Ms. Mills and recognize her service to the genealogical community.
