Record Group: RG 150
Series 1: 1944-1985
This is a digitized collection of 16,245 images of 3×5” catalog cards which index book and page numbers of bound military discharge papers. Established during the close of WWII, this index filing system, along with their bound discharge papers, were voluntarily submitted by veterans residing in Providence to City Hall.
Scope and Content: These cards contain book and page numbers relating to a series of 81 bound volumes of honorable discharge certificates (a.k.a. DD Form 214[s]). Each card contains three bibliographic notes: Name (last and first), discharge date, and branch of service. The bulk of the collection contains DD Form 214s filed in 1945-1946 by soldiers returning home from the Second World War. Other highlights include Korean War veterans’ DD Form 214s (1950-1953) and certificates that date the Vietnam War period (1956-1975). The index ends, chronologically, in the year 1985.
Arrangement: The index was originally organized alphabetically by last name first name. However, the user may search by keyword (eg., name, date, branch of service), as the Adobe PDF format contains optical character recognition (OCR) software.
Access to the collection: There are no restrictions to access.
Use of materials: The materials are within public domain. However, researchers are kindly asked to cite the Providence City Archives if reproduced.
Historical note: This index is not a complete record of honorable discharge certificates belonging to veterans from the City of Providence (from 1944-1985). These DD Form 214s are facsimiles of original certificates that were submitted by veterans to the Tax Assessors’ Office as proof of qualification for veteran real estate property tax exemptions. These were then bound and indexed after submission by the Recorder of Deeds Office. The volumes and their indices are now under the care of the Providence City Archives.
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Explore the Providence Military Discharge Papers Index
