FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:  Nov. 9, 2007
CONTACT:  Chelle Somsen, (605) 773-5521

Veteran’s Cemetery Records highlighted by State Historical Society

PIERRE, S.D. - In honor of Veteran’s Day, the South Dakota State Historical Society is highlighting a resource located in its archives concerning South Dakota military veterans -- the WPA Veteran’s Cemetery Records.

The WPA (Works Progress Administration) employed workers during the late 1930s and early 1940s to compile data on South Dakota cemeteries. The WPA Cemetery Records list people buried in South Dakota before 1940. The WPA workers made a separate index for veteran burials.

Some of the wars represented by these records include the Civil War, Spanish American War, and World War I. 

“The WPA Cemetery Records are excellent search tools for genealogists and researchers who are looking for deceased relatives and South Dakota veterans,” said Matthew T. Reitzel, manuscript archivist with the State Historical Society-Archives. “In short, the WPA Cemetery Records list people buried in South Dakota before 1940.”

“Most cemeteries, large and small, were included in the record index,” Reitzel added. “The records were sorted by county, and the name of the cemetery. County records and the tombstones were used to compile the cemetery records. Although not a complete list, the WPA Cemetery Records offer the names and places of burials before 1940.”

Information specific to the Veteran Record forms are birth date and place, death date and place, unit served and enlistment dates, and other military information. Some forms are more complete than others.

The State Archives also holds the cemetery maps produced by the WPA project. With this information, you can find in which cemetery a relative was buried, when they died, and find the exact plot of their burial -- if they died and were buried in a cemetery before 1940.

The State Archives is currently in the process of making the WPA Cemetery Records searchable online. 

“The online index will offer researchers another tool to find their South Dakota ancestors and where they may be buried,” Reitzel said.

The South Dakota State Archives is located in the Cultural Heritage Center in Pierre.  The State Archives is open Monday through Friday and the first Saturday of the each month from 9 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Contact the archives by phone at (605) 773-3804 or by e-mail archref@state.sd.us

Also to recognize veterans, the museum in the Cultural Heritage Center will be open from 1-4:30 p.m. on Monday, Nov. 12, for the Veterans Day holiday. From that day until the end of November, veterans will receive the group tour admission rate if they identify themselves as a veteran at the front desk.

South Dakota’s participation in the wars of the 20^th Century is featured in the “Changing Times” exhibit.