Library of Congress, NARA, & Air University von Rohden Collections

[Todd Martin]

Dear LWAG:

At AFHRA,some of the von Rohden collection documents are to be found in various files in the Karlsruhe Collection, i.e. many of the Karlsruhe documents are designated with von Rohden series numbers such as 4376 or 4406. Also, right next door to the AFHRA at Maxwell Air Force Base, at the Fairchild Library, in the first floor reference area, is the microfilm area which includes some of the NARA T-971 von Rohden rolls. For my topic of pre-war German aircraft production and production capacity, my records show I researched the following rolls: 6,7,9,12,15.16,17,18,19,20,22,26,27,32.33,36,37,38 ,39,42,44,45,46,,51,52,56 and 58. These are only part of the Fairchild Library T 971 microfilm collection which itself is not complete. Fairchild also has incomplete sets of of the NARA series T 321, OKL documents, and T 177, Air Ministry documents.
The NARA, College Park, Maryland, T 971 microfilm collection is, of course, complete and is in the fourth floor microfilm reading room which is equpped with approximatley ten microfilm reader-copy machines as well as at least twice that many microfilm readers. Louis, the gentleman who runs the microfilm room, is particularly familiiar with the Captued German Documents collections. The College Park facility is the best research archive I've ever had the pleasure of visiting; immaculately maintained, gleaming five and six storey steel and green-tinted glass buildings set amidst the tree-covered hills near the University of Maryland. The microfilm room itself is just as well maintained and all the microfilm collections, kept in steel cabinets around the large room, are directly accessible to the researcher - no need to fill out request slips and wait for material.
The T 971 finding aid is now on-line at:
http://www.archives.gov/research/captured-german- records/microfilm/t971.pdf[*]
[*] note this direct link is not complete
Best wishes, Todd Martin
toddemartin@gtmc.net