Civil War Widows' Pension Digitization Project at the National Archives

The National Archives holds 1.28 million case files of pension applications from family members of deceased Civil War Union soldiers. This Inside the Vaults video short follows a team of more than sixty volunteers, led by National Archives staff, which is digitizing the files and placing them online for researchers and the general public for the Civil War Widows Pension Project. For more information, go to http://www.archives.gov/press/press-r....

Inside the Vaults includes highlights from the National Archives in the Washington, DC, area and from the Presidential libraries and regional archives nationwide. These shorts present behind-the-scenes exclusives and offer surprising stories about the National Archives treasures. See more from Inside the Vaults at http://bit.ly/LzQNae.

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  Education

[Carol Barnes]

If these volunteers "work" the documents 1st ... WHY arent they wearing gloves???

[usnationalarchives]

Thanks for asking if gloves must be worn to handle books and documents at the National Archives. Wearing gloves reduces dexterity and the "feel" needed to handle paper records safely or to turn book pages. Cotton gloves can also snag a rough edge of a page. Archives staff and researchers working with clean bare hands have a better sense of what they are touching. Be sure to wash hands well and often during the day to keep your hands free of dirt and oils, as an alternative to wearing gloves.

[Mary Wilson]

This is fantastic as to the man hours it takes to get it all together and get it scanned then to put on on a website. 

[Darlene Burbine]

Will we be able ever see any of these online ? I have a couple of ancestors who have records here. I thought video would be longer and it looks like some of it was unavailable.

[chuck tomer]

So there is hope of finding the widow's pension file of my 3rd Great Grandmother! I hope it's available during my lifetime. Thank You for the amazing work you do. If I didn't live so far away I would volunteer--fascinating work!!

[Carlo Tresca]

man thats a nice job you are doing, it must be very tedious but very rewarding and necessary. my family came to new jersey during the famine in ireland and my mom's hobby is currently composing a family tree to find members who our ancestors lost contact with, or moved to other countrys, and she took a long time with it and now we found family in austrailia about 10yrs ago that we never knew we had before then. files like these are very helpful for stuff like that and its really cool. respect!

[4XLibelle]

Where are the Confederate files?

[Shelby Smith]

My daughter and I went to the archives last May to do some research on our Civil War ancestors and found my great-grandmother's request for her widow's pension. It was a wonderful opportunity to see the high regard she was held by her community. Thank you for preserving these documents for future research.

[Trundlebedtales]

Thank you for preserving the documents, moving them online, and sharing the process. I truly appreciate it.

[Claudia Niemiec]

Thank you for all your work! I never understood the complexities and scale of this project. Well done!