[1] Mark Boland has this to say about his sources:
The National Archives, downtown — here is where I started researching back
in 1974, after moving to Washington. I worked with one or two archivists on
a weekly basis, who got to know me by name. Most of the War Department's
textual records from 1940 onward are kept in the stacks (as they're called)
in the Modern Military Branch of the Archives. In those musty old boxes
are the records of the Adjutant General of the Army, who handled all
correspondence within the War Department. I started out looking for a
station list of the Army on 12/7/41, but got interested in many other
documents along the way, like strength lists, unit activation lists, station
plans, authorized strength, tables of organization, aircraft allocations,
and so on. From here they suggest I visit the National Archive Record
Center.
The National Archives Record Center, Suitland, Md. — here is where I
research individual unit histories of both large and small units, but only
Army Ground and Service units. If I wanted to research the Army Air Forces,
I had go to either Maxwell Air Force Base in Alabama or Bolling Air Force
Base in Washington, D.C. For obvious reasons I chose Bolling. Bolling had
copies of Air Force unit histories (from Maxwell) on microfilm.
Note: NARC has since moved to College Park, Maryland.
The Air Force History Support Center, Bolling AFB, D.C. — here I poured
through microfilm of unit histories from the Headquarters of AAF to smallest
detachments. They also have unit histories of Arms and Services with the
AAF, such as Chemical, Engineer, Medical, Ordnance, Quartermaster and
Signal.
The Office of Military History, at various locations around D.C. — This
place moved four times during the time I was doing research from 1974 to
1991. First it was in Fort McNair, then downtown in the Forestal Building,
then to Massachusetts Ave, and finally in the Washington Navy Yard.
I'm not sure but I think it's still there. They had the most complete set
of Army Station Lists you ever saw. The first ones were listed in the Army
Directory published by the Adjutant General from the 1880's to 1940. The
Army Directory also listed all regular Army officers and their location.
In 1941, they took the Station List out of the Directory and made it a
separate book. This may be due the size of the army or the need to keep it
secret. The army continue to publish station lists about every 6 months.
The station list closest to 7 December 1941 was dated 1 November 1941, but it only contained
units in the continental U.S. It turned out that the overseas station list
for 1 November 1941 was on microfilm. The OMH also had Army Registers dating back
to 1784, which listed army officers and their promotion dates.
The Army Library, at the Pentagon — I visited here on several occasions
where I got information on War Dept General and Special Orders.
The Library of Congress, near the Capitol — another place I visited for a
source of any book ever published since it was built.
