A collaboration between two government agencies is creating exciting opportunities for history buffs interested in the American Revolution.
The Revolutionary War Pension Project, a collaboration between the National Park Service and the National Archives and Records Administration, is looking for volunteers to help transcribe the military pension files from the Revolutionary War.
Recommended Videos
The special project aims to ”make a permanent contribution to the historical record for the 250th anniversary of the American Revolution,” according to the National Park Service’s website. The nation’s Semiquincentennial will take place in 2026.
They are looking for volunteers to help transcribe the military pension files from the Revolutionary War. The files consist of applications an other records pertaining to claims for pensions and bounty land warrants.
[EXCLUSIVE: Become a News 6 Insider (it’s FREE) | PINIT! Share your photos]
According to the project, more than 80,000 of America’s first veterans and their widows have records that “may contain valuable details about Revolutionary War veterans and their families, such as rank, unit, period of service, age, residence, date and place of marriage, and date and place of death of spouse. Also within these records, you may find copies of marriage or other family records, information pertaining to military activities or details about soldier’s lives, along with letters, diaries, or family trees”
You can learn more about the Citizen Archivist Program and how to get started by clicking here. You can even print out a Revolutionary War bingo card and fill it in as you transcribe the pension records.
There is also a transcription tips and guide for those interested in the project.
According to the NPS, Revolutionary War veterans were paid poorly for their service and some were forced to sell to land speculators the promissory land certificates they received at the end of the war, receiving pennies compared to what they were worth.
In 1818, the first of four Revolutionary War veteran pension acts were passed, at first for veterans, and later their widows, to collect a pension from the federal government paid out every six months.
Get today’s headlines in minutes with Your Florida Daily: