Pennsylvania's Civil War Muster Roll Conservation Completed

Great news from the Pennsylvania State Archives:

After seven years and approximately $1.2 million in funding, the Pennsylvania Civil War Muster Rolls Project ended in June 2012.  The project completed conservation work on over 2,500 mustering-out rolls for all regiments and emergency brigades raised in Pennsylvania during the Civil War. They are essential for the research of any given soldier, company, or regiment, for they list the status of each at the point of mustering-out of service.  The rolls are among the most popular records housed at the Pennsylvania State Archives, and had become badly soiled and torn over the last 150 years.  They were literally falling apart, and in the last century, well-intentioned staff used cellophane tape to repair them.  In this condition they could not be easily shown to patrons, or even photographed. 

State Archives staff encapsualte the final in-house muster roll - PA State Archives

In 2005, the State Archives was awarded a grant of $375,000 from the federal Save America’s Treasures Program that was joined by a $450,000 grant from the Pennsylvania General Assembly to clean, repair, deacidify and encapsulate the muster out rolls.  Over the years, the Keystone Preservation and Conservation Fund also supplied funds.  The conservation treatments were either performed by the Conservation Center for Art and Historic Artifacts in Philadelphia or at the State Archives.

To read the entire latest issue of Access Archives: The Newsletter of the Pennsylvania State Archives, click here. 

To read a description of the Civil War Muster Rolls collection at the State Archives, click here. 

Pennsylvania's Muster Rolls

The Pennsylvania State Archives had been working very hard on properly conserving each and every Muster-Out Roll for the Pennsylvania units that served during the Civil War.  As explained on the Archives' website, Muster-Out Rolls are, "the dated lists [that] ordinarily give the soldier's name, age, rank, unit, regiment and company; the date, place, and person who mustered him in; the period of enlistment; and the name of the commanding officer. Particulars concerning pay earned, promotions, capture by the enemy and the like also regularly appear."  These documents are a rich resource for students of the conflict and genealogists alike.  Sadly, funding for the conservation project ran out with some 800 rolls still to be conserved.  Recently, however, the State Archives has been awarded a $300,000 Keystone Grant which will make the conservation and preservation of the remaining rolls a reality.  The work should be completed by July 2012, after which time, the Muster-Out Rolls will be scanned by Ancestry.com, and eventually made viewable online.  This is great news.  Many of the documents have become increasingly brittle and faded over their roughly 150 year lives.  Conservation will ensure that they will continue to preserve the memory and service of the Keystone state's fighting men.  If you have any questions about the rolls or the ongoing project, please feel free to contact Linda Ries (lries@state.pa.us) at the Pennsylvania State Archives.

Also, be sure to visit the Pennsylvania State Archives, or any state archives, and be amazed by what you may find buried in the history that is preserved there for you.  Check out their website here, as well as their page for Civil War Records.

Detail of a Muster-In Roll from Co. G, 49th PA, located at the Pennsylvania State Archives