What holds these records together
If an entry seems to contradict the previous entry, read the entries between them. The contradiction often dissolves into a transfer, a posting, or a correction. An entry that names a place but no unit, or a unit but no date, is a partial clue. Use it to frame the next search, not to close the question.
What should you check before you trust a match?
Note dead ends in the timeline itself, with dates. A timeline that shows where the trail went cold is more honest, and more useful, than one that jumps the gap. A gap of a few weeks in a diary, a log, or a file is normal. A gap of months, in the same record, is a question. Learn the normal gap size for the record type.
What this section is for
Photographs and personal papers are the most vivid sources and the least reliable on their own. A letter, a photograph or a diary entry proves what it shows on its face, and everything beyond that, a date, a place, a unit, has to be supplied by another record. This section is organised as one pillar guide plus supporting guides that each answer one question about the same record type. Read the pillar first for the shape of the records, then follow the supporting guides for the detail that matches your case.
The records in this section are held principally by Family papers, local archives, and service museums. Holdings change as transfer and digitisation programmes proceed, so the holder and coverage statements in each guide describe the general position and point you to the holder's current guidance for the exact position.
Your first steps in this section
Where the clue is thin, say so in your notes. A thin clue handled honestly leads to a careful search; a thin clue dressed up as a fact leads to a wrong person. The strongest first check is a boring one: does every filter agree, or does only one agree and the rest stay silent?
- Start with the person: name, number, service, dates.
- Settle the unit or ship from the record, where it allows that.
- Read the record for those dates, and note its reference as you go.
- Let only dated, sourced facts into the timeline.
The way through this section
If the next record is a unit record, carry the posting dates with you. If it is a personal record, carry the number. The filter you carry decides what you find. Move between record types deliberately, and note the move. A timeline that jumps record types without noting the jumps cannot be audited. The person you started with is the test for every next step. If a step loses that person, it is the wrong step, however interesting it looks.
Primary sources for this guide
Everything here is kept general and tied to official holders, so check the current position with the holder for your own case. The guide is educational information only: it is not personal professional advice, it is not a lookup service, and it settles nothing about any one person's service.