How Do I Plan Research Around Free Sources?

What to check first in this record

Plan in this order: free indexes and official catalogues first, then free full records, then paid copies only for the records that matter. That order keeps costs tied to records you have already proved relevant.

Where the service is unknown, do not guess it from a photograph or a badge. Test each service in turn, starting with the one the dates and the place suggest. A single record can be wrong on a detail, so a match needs more than one agreement, and a disagreement needs a note, not a deletion. If any one of the four filters fails, name, number, unit, dates, stop and re-check before reading further into the record.

How to read this kind of entry

A name in a unit document proves presence only when name, rank, role and dates all match the person you are researching, not when the surname alone matches. If you cannot read a word, mark it unread rather than guessing it. A guessed word, once written into a timeline, is very hard to dislodge. Watch for the clerk hand as well as the officer hand. Different hands in one file mean different dates of writing, and later hands can introduce later errors.

Common traps in this record type

A gap in a record is a finding, not a failure. Note the gap, its dates, and what kind of record might fill it, instead of filling it with a plausible story. Each dead end here is a normal research outcome, not a personal failure, and each one points to a next check rather than to a conclusion. A transcription error can hide the right entry completely, because you search for the correct spelling and the index holds the wrong one. Try variants deliberately.

Working through it in order

If a step takes you to a holder, a catalogue, or an archive, fix the reference before you go. A visit or a request without a reference wastes the visit. The steps below assume you have already fixed the person, the number, and the dates as far as you can. If you have not, do that first, and then return.

1. Start from the official holder catalogue or site for the record you need.
2. Note whether what is free is an index, a transcription, or a digitised copy.
3. Check a transcription against the digitised copy or the catalogue entry before relying on it.
4. Plan paid steps, such as copy orders, only after the free finding aids have fixed the reference.

What should you check next?

Keep the person, the number and the dates together as you move to the next record, and re-check them on arrival. Filters drift when they are carried in memory. The end of a guide is a good place to review the timeline for unreferenced entries. Remove them, or mark them, before they harden into facts. When the trail goes cold, note where, and when, it went cold. That note is the starting point of the next session, not a reason to stop.