Preservation Essentials

Burned Records: Conducting Condition Assessment at the National Personnel Records Center

---

Abstract

The 1973 fire at the National Personnel Records Center (NPRC), which took four days to extinguish, sadly resulted in the loss of approximately 18 million military personnel files of Army and Air Force veterans who served during World War I, World War II, and the Korean War. Through the recovery efforts of dedicated employees working in St. Louis’ hot and humid summer months, more than 120,000 cubic feet (cf.) of records were saved. This disaster recovery reclaimed some, if not much, of the service data for nearly 6.5 million servicemen.

How to Cite:

O'Neill, M., (2005) “Burned Records: Conducting Condition Assessment at the National Personnel Records Center”, MAC Newsletter 33(1), 32-33.