NARA Vagueness Strikes Again

By V P Stroeher on Sat, 04/15/2023 - 11:07

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Some time ago, I filled out the NARA form to obtain an Official Military Personnel File (OMPF) for an individual who served in WWI. Yesterday, I received a reply -- a joyous day! Alas, the individual's OMPF probably burned up in the 1973, but there was a Final Pay Roll bearing this individual's name. I received an image of the roster (uncertified) along with a handy file on how to interpret the information in the document. Fabulous! -- I now know what unit with which he served and his enlistment and demobilization dates, and as a bonus, have a copy of his signature. What I did not have in the response report is a citation. Some digging in the NARA catalog led me to this series, World War I Enlisted Men Final Military Pay Vouchers, 1917–1921; and this record group, Records of the National Archives and Records Administration, 1789–ca. 2007, Record Group 64 (https://catalog.archives.gov/id/1436496). Alas, I have no box or file number as a search of the record group leads me in a loop back to the series page. But, I did learn that this series is housed in St. Louis. 

But wait, NARA provided a description of the record group at the "Guide to Federal Records"! Alas, it, too, is little to no help whatsoever: https://www.archives.gov/research/guide-fed-records/groups/064.html#64.9.

The "Overview of Records Locations" button on the "Guide to Federal Records" page for RG 64 leads me to information that the NRPAO (Archival Operations and Facility Planning Branch) "cluster" (14,575 cu. ft.!) is located in St. Louis. 

In an effort to cite what I used, here is my feeble attempt at a first reference note citation:

Final Pay Roster, Company A, 21st Battalion, U.S. Guards, 30 November 1918, entry for Thomas E. Pierce; image, supplied by the National Personnel Records Center, St. Louis; citing, World War I Enlisted Men Final Military Pay Vouchers, 1917–1921; Record Group (RG) 64: Records of the National Archives and Records Administration, 1789–ca. 2007; National Archives, St. Louis, Missouri.

The source entry? Perhaps:

World War I Enlisted Men Military Pay Vouchers, 1917–1921. Record Group 64: Records of the National Archives and Records Administration, 1789–ca. 2007. National Archives, St. Louis, Missouri.

 

Submitted byEEon Sat, 04/15/2023 - 13:51

V P Stroeher, NARA is a complicated place. Many collections there are similarly titled. Many similar records are deposited across various record groups and series. Many records have been removed from their original location, as a result of one action or another, and now reside amid a different set of records.

It is also a wonderful thing to study the NARA catalogs and learn about records we would not otherwise know about.

However, these are two different issues. EE cannot recommend taking a record supplied by NARA without a proper identification, then studying catalogs to figure out where it mighta-shoulda-must've come from in order to create a citation that "looks like a NARA citation ought to look like."

If NARA supplied something they cited as "Guide to Federal Records," EE would definitely not create a citation saying that NARA supplied it "citing World War I Enlisted Men Final Military Pay Vouchers, 1917–1921; Record Group (RG) 64: Records of the National Archives and Records Administration, 1789–ca. 2007; National Archives, St. Louis, Missouri."  If NARA did not cite all that on the document it sent you—or on attached cover page—then NARA did not cite it.

All things considered, EE would contact your retriever and ask for a workable citation.

In the meanwhile, EE would go back to Ground Rule 1: We cite what we use.  That means we'd identify the document as fully as we can from those images. Then we'd add a layer to say that NARA's retrieval service provided no citation except "Guide to Federal Records" and that an accurate citation has been requested.

If NARA dioes not respond and we feel fairly confident that our catalog sleuthing maybe-might've-hopefully identified the correct collection from the bowels of the archives, then we can add another sentence or so to the citation to state where we think the file might be. In that separate note, we would fully identify the catalog we used and our wording would make it clear that this possibility is a supposition on our part.

 

Submitted byV P Stroeheron Sat, 04/15/2023 - 14:16

Thank you for this, EE. I think I led you astray unintentionally: I found the Guide to Federal Records at the NARA website. I'll contact the good folks in St. Louis for assistance!

 

V P, you did not lead me astray. I often use the Guide to Federal Records at the NARA website (when I'm too lazy to get up and get the 3-volume set from my NARA collection in the closet behind my desk). The issue is a different one: just because NARA compiled a guide that mentions some of their records, that does not mean we can use it to "look up and identify," accurately, one specific file that NARA has sent us.

That guide, like the others NARA has produced, barely scratches the surface of all the records that are at NARA. For every thing that one guide mentions, there are all other comparable records not discussed in the guide. For us to use one limited guide to define what someone sent us, and then attempt a full NARA citation with the appropriate names of files, collections, sub-series, series, and record groups, is akin to looking for Jeremiah Jones in "everything published on Whatever County," finding one reference, and saying "this must be our Jeremiah because he's the only one mentioned."

As I mentioned earlier, we can (and should!) use the NARA guide as background to help us understand what we have and to give us ideas for finding more. We can add a note to our citation saying that thus-and-such guide, at p. 111, discusses "World War I Enlisted Men Final Military Pay Vouchers, 1917–1921; Record Group (RG) 64: Records of the National Archives and Records Administration, 1789–ca. 2007; National Archives, St. Louis, Missouri, which seems to be what was sent to us."

What we can't do is create a citation to a document sent to us by NARA without a citation and then say that it was sent "citing ....." because it wasn't.  What NARA cites (more accurately: generically discusses) in a guidebook to using NARA must be cited by us to that guidebook. We can't take what we read in Source B and say that Source A cited it.

Submitted byV P Stroeheron Thu, 05/04/2023 - 18:41

Thank you, EE! This does make sense (and apologies for not getting back to this sooner -- real life intervened).

By way of follow-up and to try to track this citation down, I talked to a lovely individual in the NPRC at St. Louis, who gave me an email address for their archives (stl.archfees@nara.gov). For others, the folks who handle phone queries about records that you received are not archivists, so they do not have the expertise to answer questions about citations. I sent an email to stl.archfees@nara.gov and received an immediate reply about the "suspension of reproduction and digitization services . . . due to COVID-19." So, I sent an email to inquire@nara.gov and received a "thank you for your inquiry," which I felt had a bit more promise of receiving a later response. With any luck, I might get a reply for one of them in the future. Meanwhile, I'll add a note to the citation.

Submitted byV P Stroeheron Fri, 05/26/2023 - 18:24

EE: Here's a quick update. I did get a response from a NARA archivist. These pay rolls are part of Record Group 64, in "World War I Enlisted Men Final Military Pay Vouchers, 1917–1921," which are, indeed, housed in St. Louis. So, does my original citation pass muster? For ease of reference, here it is:

Final Pay Roster, Company A, 21st Battalion, U.S. Guards, 30 November 1918, entry for Thomas E. Pierce; image, supplied by the National Personnel Records Center, St. Louis; citing, World War I Enlisted Men Final Military Pay Vouchers, 1917–1921; Record Group (RG) 64: Records of the National Archives and Records Administration, 1789–ca. 2007; National Archives, St. Louis, Missouri.