23 / PRNewswire-USNewswire / -- Archivist of the United States Allen Weinstein and Wayne Metcalfe , vice president of the Genealogical Society of Utah , today announced a five-year partnership agreement to digitize case files of approved pension applications of widows of Civil War Union soldiers from the National Archives . GSU has many years of experience microfilming historical records at the National Archives and throughout the world and in recent years has moved to providing digital capture and publishing services . Digitization makes possible unprecedented access to the unique historic documents in the custody of the National Archives .