Research for People with Family Connections to Code Breakers and Spies
Was your mother or grandmother a Code Girl? Did she serve in wartime intelligence-gathering with the OSS? I’ve heard from lots of people who know—or suspect—they have a code-breaker or espionage officer in their family tree, and want to learn more about what she did. If you are interested in tracking down this important family history, here are some resources that can help. World War II-era civilian and military government employment records are a matter of public record. If you want to request the file of a relative who served in the military during the war, or was employed as a civilian, you can do so here:
If you prefer to have an expert help you access these records, the National Archives maintains a data base of researchers who are familiar with the process.
www.archives.gov/
Personally, I worked with and highly recommend Jaclyn Ostrowski, a professional records researcher who can be reached at stlarchivesaccess@gmail.com.
If you have family memorabilia you’d like to make available to researchers, please consider donating them to the National Cryptologic Museum. To find out more about donating these materials, contact the museum curator at rjsimps@nsa.gov.
Research Help for Students
I hear from many students, especially around the National History Day contest, asking for help with research. It’s terrific that so many students are taking the initiative to pursue history projects, and I hope some of you become historians and book authors. While I cannot help with individual research requests, please feel free to use, and cite, the document below.