Series 17529

State Historical Society Military records section correspondence

Dates: 1949-1965.

13 microfilm reels

These records are housed in the Utah State Archives' permanent storage room.

Historical Note

An agency history is available.

Scope and Content

This series consists of correspondence by Robert Inscore, Graves Registrar and later Chief of the Military Records Section of the Utah State Archives. The correspondence is with individuals, other states, and the federal government regarding military service information and the placement of, or application to place, a marker on the deceased veteran's grave. Thousands of veterans had their service verified and graves marked during the years-long process.

Correspondence with other states primarily is for verifying service records that may have begun or ended outside of Utah. Respondents include state archives, adjutant generals, and historical societies. Within the Utah file, there is also some from American Legion posts and graves decoration groups.

The correspondence by name gathers information from and assists with headstone applications for next of kin. It also is with funeral homes and cemetery sextons in regards to headstone placement.

Administrative correspondence concerns such items as replacing broken headstones, insufficient records to issue a headstone, cancelled applications, and rejection due to lack of military service. The remaining correspondence in the series is with federal agencies and the respective military branches, requesting official statements of service and similar inquires.

Arrangement

By type of correspondence.

Arrangement varies slightly by type of correspondence. State correspondence is alphabetical by state name, thereunder reverse chronological by date (later comes first). Individual correspondence is by their first letter of their last name, but not necessarily in any order within each letter. Therefore when the microfilm reels splits in the middle of the B's, any particular last name starting with B could be on either reel. The reels labeled administrative correspondence have lost some context without the original folder names or tabs. Most of it is roughly chronological in reverse order, though other large sections may instead be by some sort of subject or topic system no longer known.

Related Records

Veterans buried in Utah reports from the Department of Administrative Services. Division of Archives and Records Service, Series 1560, contain published lists from the information gathered by the military records section.

Veterans' burial locations cards and forms from the Department of Administrative Services. Division of Archives and Records Service, Series 5339, are part of a data entry project for collecting the information sought after in this correspondence.

Custody History

The military records archives separated from the historical society in 1968, becoming, in part, the state archives. The correspondence was transferred to the state archives at the time of the split.

Additional Forms

This series is available on microfilm.

Access Restrictions

This series is classified as Public.

Preferred Citation

Cite the Utah State Archives and Records Service, the creating agency name, the series title, and the series number.

Processing Note

This series was processed by Gina Strack in March 2016.

Indexing Terms

• Soldiers' bodies, Disposition of--Utah.
• Soldiers--Utah.
• Sepulchral monuments--Utah
• Military records

Container List

REEL	DESCRIPTION
1	Correspondence with other states; Alabama to Ohio
2	Correspondence with other states; Ohio to Utah
3	Correspondence by name; A-B
4	Correspondence by name; B-F
5	Correspondence by name; F-J
6	Correspondence by name; J-M
7	Correspondence by name; M-R
8	Correspondence by name; R-S
9	Correspondence by name; S-Z
11	Administrative correspondence by date; 1965-May 1963
10	Administrative correspondence by date; Apr 1963-Feb 1950
12	Administrative correspondence by date; Feb 1950-Nov 1949
12	Administrative correspondence by subject
13	Administrative correspondence by subject