Glossary

Plain-English definitions of the records, forms and ideas that come up when you study or preserve military history.

1 A C D E F H M N O P R S T U V

1973 NPRC fire: A fire that began on July 12, 1973, at the National Personnel Records Center and destroyed an estimated 16 to 18 million personnel files. About 80 percent of Army records for those discharged from November 1912 to January 1960 were lost, along with about 75 percent of certain Air Force records from 1947 to 1964. Read more →
After-action report: A report written by a unit after an operation or engagement describing what happened, what went well, and what should change. Historians use these reports as official primary sources, while remembering they were written for a military audience. Read more →
Archival record (military personnel): At the National Archives, an Official Military Personnel File becomes archival 62 years after the service member leaves the military, on a rolling basis. Archival records are open to the general public; newer, non-archival records carry access restrictions. Read more →
Censorship (wartime mail): The review of service members' letters by military censors to remove details such as locations or unit movements that could help an enemy. Censored letters may have words blacked out or cut away, which is why they sometimes say less than the writer meant. Read more →
Chronicle: A record of events set down in time order, often year by year, usually with little analysis. Medieval chronicles are among the main written sources for wars of their era. Read more →
Collective memory: The shared picture of the past that a community, nation, or group of veterans holds and passes on through memorials, ceremonies, books, and films. It can differ from what individual participants remember. Read more →
Consent: A narrator's informed agreement to be interviewed, recorded, and to have the recording used or shared. Good practice means explaining the purpose first and reminding the narrator they may pause, skip a question, or stop at any time. Read more →
Corroboration: Confirming an account by finding independent evidence that agrees with it, such as a second witness, a unit record, or a letter written at the time. Historians give more weight to details that can be corroborated. Read more →
DD Form 214: The Department of Defense "Certificate of Release or Discharge from Active Duty," the key document summarizing a service member's active service at separation. Veterans and eligible next of kin can request free copies from the National Personnel Records Center. Read more →
Epic: A long narrative poem about heroic deeds, first composed and passed on orally before being written down. The Iliad and the Epic of Gilgamesh are early examples that preserve how ancient peoples remembered war. Read more →
eVetRecs: The National Archives' online system for starting a request for military personnel records, an alternative to mailing or faxing a Standard Form 180. Requests for personnel records cannot be made by email. Read more →
Eyewitness account: A description of events by someone who saw them directly. It is a valuable primary source, but its reliability depends on the witness's vantage point, purpose, and how long after the event it was recorded. Read more →
Field kit (Veterans History Project): The Library of Congress Veterans History Project's free guide for interviewers, with step-by-step instructions and the required forms, including the Biographical Data Form, the Veteran's Release Form, and recording and photograph logs. Read more →
Historiography: The study of how history has been written: which sources historians used, what questions they asked, and how interpretations of an event changed over time. Read more →
Memoir: A book-length personal account written by someone about their own experiences, often years after the events. Memoirs reveal what an experience meant to the writer, and they are shaped by later reflection and memory. Read more →
Morning report: A daily status report kept by Army and Air Force unit clerks listing changes in personnel, such as soldiers who were wounded, missing, transferred, or promoted. The Army began them in 1912 and discontinued them in 1974; the Air Force stopped in 1966. Read more →
Next of kin (military records): For requesting a deceased veteran's records from the National Archives, next of kin means an unremarried surviving spouse, father, mother, son, daughter, sister, or brother. Proof of death, such as a death certificate or published obituary, is required. Read more →
NPRC: The National Personnel Records Center in St. Louis, part of the National Archives, which holds military personnel files and related records for millions of veterans. Read more →
Official Military Personnel File (OMPF): The main administrative record of an individual's military service, containing documents such as enlistment papers, assignments, awards, and separation forms. Read more →
Oral history: A recorded interview in which a person describes their own experiences, preserved so others can learn from it. It is both a method of gathering history and the recording that results. Read more →
Oral tradition: Stories, songs, and knowledge passed from person to person by word of mouth over generations, before or alongside writing. Many of the oldest war stories survived this way. Read more →
Primary source: Material created at the time of an event or by someone who took part in it, such as a letter, diary, photograph, unit record, or recorded interview. Read more →
Provenance: The documented history of a record or object: who created it, who has kept it, and how it reached its current home. Clear provenance helps establish that a source is authentic. Read more →
Release form: A signed document in which a narrator, and usually the interviewer, gives permission for a recording to be kept, used, and shared, such as by an archive. The Veterans History Project requires its own release forms with every collection. Read more →
Secondary source: A work that interprets or analyzes primary sources after the fact, such as a history book, documentary, or scholarly article. Read more →
SF-180: Standard Form 180, "Request Pertaining to Military Records," the paper form used to request military personnel records from the National Archives by mail or fax. Read more →
Transcript: A word-for-word written version of a recorded interview. Transcripts make recordings easier to search and quote, and narrators are often invited to review them for accuracy. Read more →
Unit diary / war diary: A day-by-day official record kept by a military unit of its locations, activities, and events. Names and formats vary by service, country, and era, so ask the holding archive what survives for a given unit. Read more →
V-Mail: "Victory Mail," a Second World War system in which letters were photographed onto microfilm, flown overseas, and printed as small photographs for delivery. It ran from June 1942 to November 1945 and cut mail weight to about 3 percent of the original. Read more →
Veterans History Project: A Library of Congress program, part of its American Folklife Center, created by Congress in 2000 to collect and preserve firsthand accounts of U.S. veterans. Volunteers record interviews and donate them with the project's release forms. Read more →