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Search More Than 9 Million NARA World War II Army Enlistment Records Online at WorldVitalRecords.com Provo, UT, April 04, 2007 --(PR.com)-- More than 9 million World War II army enlistment records are now searchable online at WorldVitalRecords.com through a shipment provided by National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), one of the largest archives in the US.“The National Archives and Records Administration in Washington, DC, preserves and provides access to billions of genealogical and historical records, photographs, and computerized resources. I am pleased that WorldVitalRecords.com is including these NARA records on its site,” said Kip Sperry, Professor of Family History, Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah.NARA created the database in 2002 in conjunction with the Bureau of the Census. The World War II Army Enlistment database contains the majority of the Army enlistments during World War II from 1938-1946. "I am very grateful that the government went to such great lengths to track all of the valuable details of each individual's life over time. I am very excited to include that depth of detail for our members at WorldVitalRecords.com," said David Lifferth, President, WorldVitalRecords.com.The World War II database contains the serial number, name, state and county of residence, place of enlistment, date of enlistment, race, grade, Army branch, term of enlistment, longevity, nativity (place of birth), year of birth, civilian occupation, marital status, education, military occupational specialty (1945 and later), height and weight (before 1943), component, and box and reel number of the microfilmed punch cards."The World War II generation brought us out of the Great Depression and established much of the American modern infrastructure we enjoy today. We celebrate their lives with the inclusion of these records," said Yvette Arts, Director, Content Acquisition, WorldVitalRecords.com.At WorldVitalRecords.com, these NARA databases are part of a global search, allowing users to search all of the databases at one time. These records will also be enhanced with geomapping and the Google Book search features.“This new database at WorldVitalRecords.com adds a wealth of material from the rich resources of NARA. With this addition, the records of millions of veterans have been made available to researchers,” said Robert Freeman, Director of the Saints at War Project at Brigham Young University.About WorldVitalRecords.comFinding your ancestors can be overwhelming, and expensive. At WorldVitalRecords.com, they’ve made it easy and affordable for individuals to connect to their families and find answers to their genealogical questions. WorldVitalRecords.com was founded by Paul Allen, who also founded Ancestry.com, one of the leading genealogy companies. WorldVitalRecords.com aims to be a top player in the genealogy industry and will offer users international record databases, references to top genealogical resources, including Everton’s Online Genealogical Helper and Family Group Sheets and Pedigree Files, a blog planet, podcasts, videocasts, Webinars, expert advice, training, and user-generated content###

Baylor University has announced that a small archive of Civil War letters has been digitized and is now available at the Baylor University Library Digital Collections site. The collection consists of thirty-two letters, mostly between a soldier and his sweetheart. The letters have been both digitized and transcribed; from the front page of the collection you can browse the letters in chronological order. The next-to-last item is the burial receipt for John Coleman, who wrote most of the letters (he died in 1880) and the last item — a really nice touch — is a chronological transcription of all the letters, presented in a PDF file. Click on a letter and you’ll get a good-sized picture; a lot of them are tough to read however (especially the ones written on blue paper.) On the left nav you’ll have the option to view the document description (the letter itself), the page description, or the page and text. Choose the page and text option; you’ll get a good copy of the letter to browse but also a transcription in a popup window. The transcriptions aren’t perfect, but they’re very good. John Coleman is an interesting man. Melancholy, frustrated, worried about his girlfriend and family, occasionally bored, he mixes home and war news equally. His girlfriend writes back patiently, their letters often missing each other. The good transcriptions and the focus on two people make this a fascinating read. Well done Baylor.

If you are having a problem getting started I would encourage you to make a list or time line. Think about the different periods of your life. Start by listing important events that have occurred during your lifetime. Birth Kindergarten Grade School High School Graduation First Job Military Service First Date Marriage Birth of children Make a list of other events that happened during your lifetime. Your first pet The first time you went camping or on a family trip Places you have traveled to Places you have lived Your favorite book or comic book First movie that you saw First TV program that you saw Your first car Shirley G. Hodges Use family albums to jog your memory. With age our memories can get a little fuzzy. When we look at old photos it helps us to remember events as they were. You might find one of yourself with your favorite outfit. I was pleased to find one of me carrying a purse that my parents had given me. I find it interesting to see how I delighted in things that made me feel grown up. Some things marked a real passage for us. I remember the first time I was able to wear nylon stockings. It was for my brother's wedding. I felt absolutely grown up at the advanced age of eleven.

GPS for the Web A reader response in the October 2006 issue of Family Tree Magazine caught my eye:It astonishes me that a magazine such as yours would publish an article telling its readers of the many resources available on a "fresh-faced" Cyndi's List <cyndislist.com> without warning them that the site has not been seriously updated since mid-2003 ("Upping the Ante," June 2006).  By looking at the new, temporarily uncategorized links, you'll see that Cyndi Howells hasn't been moving these linkst into her main index for almost three years.Well that might explain why I haven't been successful getting Family Matters added to the list. My point is . . .  Why depend on an out-dated technology when you can use the online version of a GPS system to maintain your own set of research waypoints throughout the Internet.  And, you can easily share them with others - either in a research group or one-to-one.  You can do all this and much more with Diigo.  Diigo is different from other social bookmarking systems in that it allows you to add your own sticky notes to your bookmark and share those notes with others if you wish.  It's easy to select a page or a bit of text and email that information to someone.  And, because your bookmarks are managed on Diigo's servers, your bookmarks and notes are available to your from any computer.  It gets better.  Diigo is a free service.  Once you have created you account, download and install the appropriate toolbar (available for Foxfire, Internet Explorer and Flock) or bookmarklet and you're ready to go.  If you already use other social bookmarking platforms - like del.icio.us or My Web - you can set your toolbar options to automatically create bookmarks there too. Diigo is a researcher's dream.  The email forwarding alone is worth its weight in gold!  Stop by the Diigo site and see for yourself.

GPS for the Web A reader response in the October 2006 issue of Family Tree Magazine caught my eye:It astonishes me that a magazine such as yours would publish an article telling its readers of the many resources available on a "fresh-faced" Cyndi's List <cyndislist.com> without warning them that the site has not been seriously updated since mid-2003 ("Upping the Ante," June 2006).  By looking at the new, temporarily uncategorized links, you'll see that Cyndi Howells hasn't been moving these linkst into her main index for almost three years.Well that might explain why I haven't been successful getting Family Matters added to the list. My point is . . .  Why depend on an out-dated technology when you can use the online version of a GPS system to maintain your own set of research waypoints throughout the Internet.  And, you can easily share them with others - either in a research group or one-to-one.  You can do all this and much more with Diigo.  Diigo is different from other social bookmarking systems in that it allows you to add your own sticky notes to your bookmark and share those notes with others if you wish.  It's easy to select a page or a bit of text and email that information to someone.  And, because your bookmarks are managed on Diigo's servers, your bookmarks and notes are available to your from any computer.  It gets better.  Diigo is a free service.  Once you have created you account, download and install the appropriate toolbar (available for Foxfire, Internet Explorer and Flock) or bookmarklet and you're ready to go.  If you already use other social bookmarking platforms - like del.icio.us or My Web - you can set your toolbar options to automatically create bookmarks there too. Diigo is a researcher's dream.  The email forwarding alone is worth its weight in gold!  Stop by the Diigo site and see for yourself.

The Browning Genealogy Database is the lifetime work of Charles Browning, who compiled the obituary records of Vanderburgh County and surrounding southwestern Indiana from the Evansville newspapers: The Evansville Courier, The Evansville Press, and now The Evansville Courier and Press. Information on each deceased person listed in the database includes fifteen categories, encompassing age, date of death, survivors, funeral information, cemetery, occupation, and activities.  This attention to detail provides a vital community resource and source for genealogical research.

The U.S. Railroad Retirement Board administers a Federal retirement benefit program covering the nation's railroad workers.  The records it maintains deal primarily with the administration and payment of these benefits.  The Board will provide information from its records on deceased persons for the purpose of genealogical research.  However, it will not release information on persons who are still living without the written consent of that person. Our records are limited to individuals who worked in the rail industry after 1936.  Please do not contact us with requests for records before that date. We don't have that information.