2019 Virtual Genealogy Fair Session 4: World War I Naval and Marine Corps Records
Channel: US National Archives
Date: 2019-11-06

Using National Archives Records to Research World War I Naval and Marine Corps Records for Genealogical Research

⇒ Schedule & Handouts: https://www.archives.gov/calendar/genealogy-fair
⇒ Event Evaluation Form: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/KYREventEval
⇒ Transcript taken from the captioning is available upon request to KYR@nara.gov.
⇒ Learn more about the Know Your Records program:
http://www.archives.gov/calendar/know-your-records

Session 4 Description: In this session, archivist Nathaniel Patch offers a guide to discovering the story of your World War I Sailor and Marine using the Records of the National Archives. Although for the experienced to advanced researcher, beginners will learn where to access easily understood records (such as deck logs, war diaries, and unit records), and how to build on that information to find more material in complicated record series.

Presenter: Nathaniel Patch has been employed at the National Archives for 17 years. He started at the National Archives Building in Washington, DC as a technician in 2002, and then moved to the National Archives at College Park, MD after joining the Navy Reference Team as an archives specialist in 2006.  He was promoted to archivist in 2014 while continuing to work with the Navy Reference Team.  Most recently, he was promoted in 2018 to Subject Matter Expert for Navy, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard topics. His interest is in naval warfare, and in particular, submarine warfare and US-Japanese relations 1894-1945.  He has lectured on topics including researching genealogy using World War I and World War II Navy records, on the Battle of Midway, and how to conduct archival research for Underwater Archaeology. In addition, Mr. Patch has written several articles on submarine warfare that were published in Prologue magazine and currently working on projects for other publications.   Mr. Patch  earned an M.A.  in Naval History from American Military University.