Several weeks ago the blog post was about my maternal grandfather’s work for the Works Progress Administration.
We all had a good laugh about how I assumed he helped build the town’s post office when, in fact, he helped dig the toilet at Sunset Hill!
A bit more research and a bit of patience revealed additional information about Granddaddy's work with the WPA. In this week's post--ironically the anniversary of the creation of the WPA--I’ll tell you how I got the information, and next week, I’ll tell you what information I received.
Utilizing the National Archives website, I was requested my grandfather’s WPA personnel records. I did this by submitting NA Form 14137. The form is only a page long and doesn’t take very long to fill out. However, you have to send it snail mail to St. Louis to be processed.
The first section of the request form tells you what types of records may be available, that the records will only be retrieved for a fee, where to send the completed form, and how to make an appointment to view the records in person if you would like to do that.
We all had a good laugh about how I assumed he helped build the town’s post office when, in fact, he helped dig the toilet at Sunset Hill!
A bit more research and a bit of patience revealed additional information about Granddaddy's work with the WPA. In this week's post--ironically the anniversary of the creation of the WPA--I’ll tell you how I got the information, and next week, I’ll tell you what information I received.
Utilizing the National Archives website, I was requested my grandfather’s WPA personnel records. I did this by submitting NA Form 14137. The form is only a page long and doesn’t take very long to fill out. However, you have to send it snail mail to St. Louis to be processed.
The first section of the request form tells you what types of records may be available, that the records will only be retrieved for a fee, where to send the completed form, and how to make an appointment to view the records in person if you would like to do that.
The second section requires the following information about your WPA employee:
Be as specific as you can, but if you don’t know something, leave it blank. I only knew one date of service—the year the privy was built—so I used that.
The third section is YOUR information. As a descendant of the employee, I had to specify my relationship. You also have to give them a mailing address to send the reply and your contact information.
About two weeks later, I received a reply from an archivist. She indicated that a “possible WPA record” had been located, and gave me the name on the record, address listed, and the estimated year of birth.
All of it matched my grandfather’s information!
The record was on microfilm. The letter indicated I had 30 days to return the "Order for Archival Record Reproduction Services" with payment in the form of check, money order, or credit card.
- last, first and middle name (in that order)
- date of birth
- social security number
- birthplace
- hometown at time of employment
- names of father, mother and spouse
- town, county, state and dates of work performed
Be as specific as you can, but if you don’t know something, leave it blank. I only knew one date of service—the year the privy was built—so I used that.
The third section is YOUR information. As a descendant of the employee, I had to specify my relationship. You also have to give them a mailing address to send the reply and your contact information.
About two weeks later, I received a reply from an archivist. She indicated that a “possible WPA record” had been located, and gave me the name on the record, address listed, and the estimated year of birth.
All of it matched my grandfather’s information!
The record was on microfilm. The letter indicated I had 30 days to return the "Order for Archival Record Reproduction Services" with payment in the form of check, money order, or credit card.
The photocopy cost slowed me down for a bit.
SEVENTY DOLLARS!
A check of the NA copy fees showed that $70 was a flat fee for six pages or more. So, a couple weeks later, praying for “or more,” I wrote a check, filled out the order, and sent it in.
Three weeks later, I received twenty-three pages of information.
Shut the front door!
Next week, I’ll tell you what was in those 23 pages!
SEVENTY DOLLARS!
A check of the NA copy fees showed that $70 was a flat fee for six pages or more. So, a couple weeks later, praying for “or more,” I wrote a check, filled out the order, and sent it in.
Three weeks later, I received twenty-three pages of information.
Shut the front door!
Next week, I’ll tell you what was in those 23 pages!