Looking for a Wing or National Historian, that can look up old CAP records? Anybody?
Quote from: Devil Doc on October 24, 2017, 05:16:04 PM
Looking for a Wing or National Historian, that can look up old CAP records? Anybody?
That depends on what exactly you are looking for. Wing historians only keep information for their respective wing. Thus, if you are looking for something specific to a wing, it would be best to contact directly. Not everything the Wing Historians have get forwarded to National or even Region. Some information may be found online in repositories or sites like Scribd or the National History website. In other cases, it may be better to contact the department specific to your request. Such as NHQ paid staff to look for old personal personnel files or the wing ES for ES missions. There is a lot of variation, so a bit more information is needed.
The information I was looking for is kinda... complicated. My dad stated at one time he was in CAP, I'm assuming in Charlotte according to his age and location he was living at the time. I wonder can anybody find out?
Quote from: Devil Doc on October 24, 2017, 06:03:19 PM
The information I was looking for is kinda... complicated. My dad stated at one time he was in CAP, I'm assuming in Charlotte according to his age and location he was living at the time. I wonder can anybody find out?
Good luck. There might not be much available. Many of the olde personnel records are in "deep storage", or have even been purged. I attempted to retrieve some of my own info a while back, and came up empty for those reasons. I don't think NHQ even really knows what they have or don't have. If it's only on paper it's not readily accessible.
Quote from: Devil Doc on October 24, 2017, 06:03:19 PM
The information I was looking for is kinda... complicated. My dad stated at one time he was in CAP, I'm assuming in Charlotte according to his age and location he was living at the time. I wonder can anybody find out?
Most likely that information is gone from CAP. It may be in a document somewhere at someone's house or storage facility. However, I doubt anyone will immediately have that information on hand. I would suggest a few things:
1) Find an old CAP member or an old ex-CAP member. They may have information or a future lead
2) Search a newspaper archive. Never know if a journalist ever did an article that had a quote of him or perhaps snapped a picture
3) See if the city or state has a searchable archive. Some of that information may have been archived by the State or City. Nothing official like in records, but state archives or even a library
4) Search for a CAP member that may know an old CAP member. (see a trend?)
Most of the information I collected in rebuilding a wing's history was obtained from previous members I knew or was referenced to. These were people either still in CAP but mostly inactive, previous members, previous cadets that remembered the member, etc. Yea, it will take a lot, and I mean that, of leg work.
Good luck.
Quote from: SarDragon on October 24, 2017, 06:34:15 PM
I don't think NHQ even really knows what they have or don't have. If it's only on paper it's not readily accessible.
Unfortunately, that is very true. NHQ really does not know. For years, that information has not been catalogued and has sat in a storage facility in Baltimore or Boston (I cannot remember). The last time I talked with Frank Blazich, getting that organized and into an appropriate facility was a key project. Unfortunately, CAP does not have much money for long term archival.