American Archives Month, October 2017
Good news military history and genealogy enthusiasts! The indexing of the early admission case files (1887-1936) for the Grand Island Veterans Home, originally known as the Soldiers and Sailors Home, is now complete.
On October 20, 1887, Governor John M. Thayer dedicated the cornerstone of the new Soldiers and Sailors Home, and Oliver P. Duncan was the first Civil War veteran admitted to the Grand Island home on June 28, 1888. Subsequent laws were passed to allow veterans serving in all of the wars and conflicts since that time to be eligible to live at the facility. There may be a gap in some of the early admission case files from the Home. In June 1967 the city of Grand Island (Hall County) suffered a flood and some of the earlier admission files were lost.
The alpha index to this early series can be located in the on-line finding aid for the collection, and for visitors in our reference room, there is a copy in a 3 ring binder on a counter by the county histories. Contact NSHS reference staff for additional information at [email protected]
