Our tour was quite informative and I was able to see military records in varying process of preservation from their wet and dry labs. We even received a tour of the stacks containing the salvaged records.
According the the archives website:
No duplicate copies of the records that were destroyed in the fire were maintained, nor was a microfilm copy ever produced. There were no indexes created prior to the fire. In addition, millions of documents had been lent to the Department of Veterans Affairs before the fire occurred. Therefore, a complete listing of the records that were lost is not available. Nevertheless, NPRC (MPR) uses many alternate sources in its efforts to reconstruct basic service information to respond to requests.
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Damage and reconstruction
The 1973 fire destroyed the entire 6th floor of the National Personnel Records Center. Damage from the fire can still be seen today. In 1974, a massive reconstruction effort was begun to restore the service records which were destroyed. In most cases where a military record has been presumed destroyed, NPRC is able to reconstruct basic service information, such as military date of entry, date of discharge, character of service, and final rank.
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Tours will be held for the remainder of today and tomorrow. For those of us who handle such records is a sobering reminder of the men and women who served to protect this country and the world at large.
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