Military Archive Survey Essay

Total Length: 1186 words ( 4 double-spaced pages)

Total Sources: 1

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Archives are a great way to research topics of interest pertaining to historical events and people of interest from the past. Depending on how extensive the archives are, they can truly help any aspiring researcher or historian to discover a new angle or new story within the countless archives and microfiches. Some archives do not possess variety. Some do. Some even have excellent and varied online access. The site used for this assignment is the Civil War Archives: http://www.archives.gov/research/military/civil-war/.

These archivers belong to a much larger grouping of archives concerning American history. They have many online links and online information easily in view. The website itself is easy to navigate for the user. Everything has references so research can pinpoint where the information originated.

The documents come from a series of areas such as the Union and Confederate army. Archives from this topic of interest come from Lee D. Bacon's "Civil War and Later Navy Personnel Records at the National Archives, 1861-1924" along with other civil war era archives involving African-American sailors which are available online at a site called "Civil War Soldiers and Sailors System. Many of the records specifically for the Union come from three major records, "(1) compiled military service record (CMSR); (2) pension application file; and (3) records reproduced in microfilm publication M594, Compiled Records Showing Service of Military Units in Volunteer Union Organizations (225 rolls)" (Archives.gov, 2015). It is essentially the same for the Confederate records.

Pictures from the Civil War era also have online access. People can request microfiches by calling in and making an appointment in one of their locations. However, a lot of it exists within an online database. Many topics have cross-referencing, referring to an outside website. Everything has links embedded for easy access to the other websites.


The scope of the archives cover the entirety of the Civil War with the exception of the regular army. They even have several hundred women referenced within the archives as well as African-Americans that participated in the American Civil War. They give a list of useful publications for people to research in relation to Civil War battle strategies, social and political context, and even how uniforms looks during the Civil War era. They also include basic records. Some of these basic records are CMSRs or Compiled Military Service Records; they have pension records, even a record of events. They also give the direct address to find archives only available in person. "You may do research in Civil War military service and pension files in person at the National Archives Building, 700 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20408-0001" (Archives.gov, 2015).

As mentioned earlier, there are some sections of cross-referencing. The webpage displayed embedded links as well as mentioning other websites. They also provided additional references, a list of references and other publications.

2 The way things are organized, the website splits into various sections. The initial page has topics and then has links for those topics. If things resources are not available online, the website states where to get the archives and how to get them. They layout appears easy to navigate with few interruptions in terms of confusion or not understanding where things are or lead to. The website also hosts a "top of page" feature. This feature allows the person to go all the way to the top for easy navigation.

3. The kind of documents the website have come in various forms. The first prominent link and section are Civil War photographs. The Civil War….....

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