Walker military personnel file

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Confidential information from:
NATIONAL PERSONNEL RECORDS CENTER
1 Archives Drive
St. Louis MO 63138

Thank you for contacting the National Personnel Records Center.

Your request has been completed!

The veteran's last name is WALKER.

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*Reply to: RR1R-24-43958-JD*

MuckRock News
DEPT MR 161682
263 Huntington Avenue
Boston, MA 02115

ATTN: Sherman McCall
via EMAIL: requests@muckrock.com

Dear Mr. McCall:

This is in response to your Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request for a
copy of the personnel file for Dr. Mary Edwards Walker, Civil War contract
surgeon. Your request was forwarded from the Department of Veterans Affairs
and received in this office on May 28, 2024, and assigned case number
24-43958.

The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) is the repository
for the permanent and historically valuable records of the United States
Federal Government, which includes those of the U.S. Congress, the U.S.
Supreme Court and federal court system, and the agencies and departments of
the Executive Branch. Our holdings are not organized by name or subject,
but are primarily arranged by the federal office or court that created and
maintained the records, and thereafter by various filing schemes depending
on the type of record or the particular function of the federal office or
court in question. Moreover, it is important to note that NARA does not
have a master name and subject index that identifies all documents
pertaining to a specific individual, organization, topic, or geographic
location.

With regards to your request, the Archives 1 Reference Branch in
Washington, DC, houses numerous records relating to the Civil War and
includes records relating to military service. However, we should note that
the War Department did not create any consolidated personnel files during
the Civil War, and as such, there is no personnel file for Mary Edwards
Walker. But we checked the Records of the Adjutant General’s Office (Record
Group 94) and noted the following records are available for Mary Edwards
Walker:

- File in the series “Personal Papers of Medical Officers and
Physicians” (PI-17 Entry 561; National Archives Identifier 655782
<https://catalog.archives.gov/id/655782>) -- 221 pages
- File W-2068-VS-1863 (Congressional Medal of Honor File) in the series
“Letters Received by the Volunteer Service Division, 1861–1889” (PI-17
Entry 496; National Archives Identifier 18573415
<https://catalog.archives.gov/id/18573415>) -- 300 pages
- File in the series “Case Files Relating to Corrections of Military
Records, 1961–2005” (A1 Entry 814; National Archives Identifier 300358
<https://catalog.archives.gov/id/300358>)
- Box 4 in this series contains the transcript of the 1977
proceedings of the Army Board for the Correction of Military Records
regarding Walker’s Medal of Honor (National Archives Identifier
18463647 <https://catalog.archives.gov/id/18463647>) -- 85 pages

A reproduction of all of the files referenced above are available for
purchase. Our current fee for paper-to-paper (or paper-to-digital images)
is $0.80 per page. The total number of pages for all three files is
approximately 606 pages, which would bring the total cost for a
reproduction to $484.80. To obtain copies of any or all of these records,
please email our office directly at archives1reference@nara.gov. In your
correspondence, please reference the case number as "RR1R-24-43958-JD."

Additionally, we also checked the Records of the Department of Veterans
Affairs (Record Group 15) and located a pension file (#SC 142,715) for Mary
Edwards Walker. A reproduction of this pension file is available for
purchase and can be ordered online using form NATF 85. Please submit your
request via the NARA website at the following address:

https://www.archives.gov/veterans/military-service-records/pre-ww-1-records.

Please note that the FOIA's fee and fee waiver provisions do not apply to
archival records. The fee statute, 44 U.S.C. 2116(c), does apply. It does
not authorize NARA to waive reproduction charges for individual requesters,
and our inability to grant a fee waiver does not constitute a denial for
the purposes of the FOIA.

Furthermore, please note that the records in Record Group 94 and Record
Group 15 that we noted above are open and available to the public and do
not require a FOIA request to access them. As such, you do not need to
submit a FOIA request to obtain copies or view them in person. And with
regards to the latter, you are welcome to visit our facility in Washington,
DC, to view the records in our research room. While appointments are no
longer required, we do encourage interested researchers in making a
research room room appointment. To do so, please click on the following
link: National Archives in Washington, DC (Research)
<https://www.eventbrite.com/o/national-archives-in-washington-dc-research-48144467593>.
Our DC building page can be found at: https://www.archives.gov/dc.

This completes the processing of your request. If you have any questions,
you may reach me via email at john.deeben@nara.gov.

We do not consider this response a denial under the Freedom of Information
Act because we were able to locate records pertaining to your subject and
have provided you with instructions on how to obtain reproductions. Since
the records cited above are open and available to the public, you do not
need to file a Freedom of Information Act request to access them. However,
if you are not satisfied with our action on this request, your options for
appeal and dispute resolution are outlined in the attached enclosure.

This concludes the processing of your request.

Sincerely,

JOHN P. DEEBEN
Archivist, Archives 1 Reference Branch
Archival Operations - Washington, DC
National Archives and Records Administration

**********

---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: scanner <A1-405-HPLJ500MFPM525@nara.gov>
Date: Fri, May 24, 2024 at 11:28 AM
Subject: Incoming FOIA - McCall

Thank you for contacting the Archives 1 Reference Branch in Washington, DC.

We will assign your request to a staff member who will contact you with a more substantive response. Our standard response time is approximately 3 weeks. Due to the number of reference requests received and the limitation of staff time available to answer correspondence, requests may take longer than the usual time to receive a response.

Our research room is open by appointment only. We schedule visits no more than three months in advance. Research room hours are Monday-Friday, 9:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m. Please visit https://www.archives.gov/dc for a link to our Eventbrite page to schedule a research appointment as well as information about our facility and holdings.

Sincerely,
Archives 1 Reference Branch (RR1R)
National Archives in Washington, DC

Reply to: RR1R-24-53814-JD

Dear Sherman McCall:

This is in reply to your recent inquiry to the National Archives requesting
a copy of the Mary E. Walker File as located in the the series "Case Files
Relating to Corrections of Military Records, 1961–2005” (A1 Entry 814) in
the Records of the Adjutant General's Office (Record Group 94). The
Archives 1 Reference Branch (RR1R) received your request on July 15, 2024.

A reproduction price quote/order form for the requested file is attached.
The form includes options on how to receive the file, including digitally
on CD/DVD or via electronic file transfer.

To order the record described on the attached NATF Form 72, please follow
the instructions on the form and return a copy of the form with your
remittance. If you wish to pay by using a MasterCard, VISA, Discover,
Bravo, Private Issue, or American Express credit card, you should return a
copy of NATF Form 72 (annotated with type of credit card, account number,
expiration date, and your signature) to the National Archives Trust Fund,
Cashier (NAT). You may scan and email the completed form to
TrustFundOrders@nara.gov (most effective) or mail the completed form to the
National Archives Trust Fund, Cashier (NAT), The National Archives at
College Park, 8601 Adelphi Road, College Park, MD 20740-6001. Your
account will be verified before copies are shipped. Please allow 30-60
days for delivery of your order.
Sincerely,

*JOHN P. DEEBEN*
Archivist, A1 Reference Branch
Archival Operations - Washington, DC
National Archives and Records Administration