Approved Claims

For online digital images, use Ancestry or Fold3 to search for the desired name and its connecting documents. To use film, consult the Descriptive Pamphlet (DP) for Southern Claims Commission Approved Claims, 1871–1880: Alabama (National Archives microfilm publication M2062) to determine which film roll will contain the file for a specific claim.

For online digital images, use Ancestry or Fold3 to search for the desired name and its connecting documents. To use fiche, consult the Descriptive Pamphlet (DP) for Southern Claims Commission Approved Claims, 1871–1880: Georgia (National Archives microfilm publication M1658) to determine the fiche number for a specific claim.

For online digital images, use Ancestry or Fold3 to search for the desired name and its connecting documents. To use film, consult the Descriptive Pamphlet (DP) for Southern Claims Commission Approved Claims, 1871–1880: Virginia (National Archives microfilm publication M2094) to determine which film roll will contain the file for a specific claim.

For online digital images, use Ancestry or Fold3 to search for the desired name and its connecting documents. To use fiche, consult the Descriptive Pamphlet (DP) for Southern Claims Commission Approved Claims, 1871–1880: West Virginia (National Archives microfilm publication M1762) to determine which film roll will contain the file for a specific claim.

Ancestry and Fold3 databases and the film and fiche sets for approved claims are available in the History and Genealogy department, as well as at other research facilities.

As of 1 Sept 2011, Fold3 began the process of digitizing the approved claims for the six states shown above in bold type. A subscription is not required to search Fold3, but is needed to view SCC images. Currently (February 2012), contact the National Archives directly (see options 2 and 3 in the following table) for price quote and copies of approved claims from Florida or Texas.
 

Obtaining a copy of an approved SCC claim that was never microfilmed

 
Option 1. check for digital copy

• Before proceeding, check Fold3 to see if the needed file is available on their Web site.
   
   

Option 2. request price quote online from the national archives

• Visit the National Archives website.
• Because NARA updates this webpage periodically, the actual wording on the “Contact” webpage will change. In general, look for a link that says something such as “questions about research and records.” Follow that or similar links until given the opportunity to enter and submit a question.
• Submit a question asking for a price quote for the approved claim.

Include in your message

• fact that you are seeking an approved Southern Claims Commission claim
• full name of the claimant
• commission claim number
• state from which claim was made

In turn ask for

• availability of the original documents for the claim
• price quote for photocopies or digital images of the documents

Be sure to provide

• your name, e-mail address, postal mailing address, and phone number for a reply

 
Option 3. mail a written price request to the following address:

National Archives and Records Administration
Reference Section
700 Pennsylvania Ave., N.W.
Washington, DC  20408
 

Be sure to provide

• all information listed above regarding the SCC claim
• your name, e-mail address, postal mailing address, and phone number for a reply.

If the National Archives tells you the case file is missing, consult the chart entitled "Accessing Southern Claims Commission Records" that is opposite the title page of Gary Mills' book, Southern Loyalists in the Civil War, for other possible places within the National Archives to search.