The American Legion Library houses an amazing amount of information, in all types of media. The holdings at National Headquarters in Indianapolis include:

• More than 12,000 books and pamphlets on Americanism, national security and the wars of the 20th and 21st centuries, among other topics.
• 50,000 rare documents such as the GI Bill, the revolutionary legislation that offered support and educational assistance to troops returning from World War II.
• Visual collections in the form of photographs and more than 2,000 recruiting posters from the two world wars. (Click here to see the posters.)
• Histories of the Legion through the eyes and ears of several authors.
• A limited number of unit histories dating back to World War I.
• A broad collection of artifacts in the Emil A. Blackmore Museum, located on the fourth floor of National Headquarters. (Click here for a virtual tour of the museum.)
• Information on how to donate books, artwork and other artifacts for preservation by the Legion.

• The American Legion National Library and Museum administers the Digital Archive, which represents the library's digital holdings. The Digital Archive provides full-text access to newsletters, press releases, and other American Legion publications from the year 1995 to present.

GI Bill

Legionnaires spent nearly a year steadfastly lobbying Congress before President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the GI Bill into law on June 22, 1944.

A tribute to the unrelenting effort can be found at National Headquarters, where the original handwritten draft of the bill is on display. Click here for a look.

Passage of the Servicemen’s Readjustment Act of 1944, or the GI Bill, meant that veterans would receive funding for education, unemployment, loans and medical care. The work of the Legion was not without opposition from other veterans groups, some of which assumed that the bill would be filled with “handouts.”

But the Legion stressed that veterans had to be willing to help themselves to gain assistance. An editorial in the Army Times summed up the need for the GI Bill: “What kind of people do you think are fighting and winning this war? The GI Bill of Rights is not charity. It merely provides a chance for service men and women to navigate under their own power. They have been taken from jobs, homes and futures to win a war. Certainly they deserve a little assistance in making their readjustments.”

More than six decades and several wars later, the Legion went back to work with Congress to overhaul the GI bill with updated benefits. More than three years of effort led to the passage of the Post-9/11 Veterans Educational Assistance Act, signed into law June 30, 2008, and implemented Aug. 1, 2009.

The updates in benefits and more information on the contemporary GI Bill can be found here.

American Legion histories

History buffs in need of background information on the Legion can turn to the library staff for guidance. Housed in collections at National Headquarters or at other libraries are several notable books:

• James, Marquis. “A History of The American Legion.” New York, NY: William Green, 1923.
• Jones, Richard Seelye. “A History of The American Legion.” Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill Company, 1946.
• Rumer, Thomas A. “The American Legion: An Official History 1919-1989.” New York, NY: M. Evans & Company, Inc., 1990.
• The American Legion Extension Institute, a course of study outlining the rich history, programs, policies, developments, positions and future goals of the organization. The course also serves as a handy reference set on the workings of the Legion. Available from National Headquarters.

In need of other topical books? Try contacting the library staff at (317) 630-1200, or library@legion.org, for sources on topics such as:

• Americanism
• Veterans affairs
• National security
• Youth programs
• War histories
• Disarmament
• Veterans compensation
• Women’s role in wars

Unit histories

Interested in learning more about the 1st Marine Division? Know someone from the 8th Infantry Division? Need to know about the 9th Tactical Air Command? A relative served on USS Baltimore (CA 68)?

The Legion library staff will try to help. They will check the Legion’s limited collection of unit histories. Just give them a try by notifying them of the specific unit in which you are interested.

Call (317) 630-1200 between 8:30 a.m. and 4 p.m. on weekdays,  or email library@legion.org.

If you’re seeking military service records, contact:

National Personnel Records Center
(Military Personnel Records)
9700 Page Blvd.
St. Louis, MO 63132-5100

Further information about access to military service records is available online: http://www.archives.gov/veterans

With access to a printer and Adobe Acrobat Reader software, you may download and print a copy of Standard Form 180 - Request Pertaining to Military Records, at: http://www.archives.gov/research_room/obtain_copies/standard_form_180.pdf

Emil A. Blackmore Museum

Many Legion members don’t know the great visual history lessons to be found at National Headquarters.

War buffs can view all types of weaponry, from an automatic machine gun adopted by Americans in 1917 to ceremonial sidearms used by enemy officers in World War II.

Images of Audie Murphy, one of the most decorated servicemen of World War II, or President Harry Truman, founding member of his Legion post in Independence, Mo., are also on the tour.

More contemporary history is included as well, including desert camouflage uniforms from the Persian Gulf War of 1990-1991, and a flag flown over the World Trade Center Ground Zero site.

Blackmore is credited with the enthusiasm that went into developing the museum. In his role as national adjutant from July 1, 1956, until his death on April 21, 1967, he had a personal interest in establishing it.

Also found in the museum are treasures from American Legion Baseball, artifacts from drum & bugle contests, and mementos from conflicts since World War I.

Other museum highlights are a bust of Legion founder and Brig. Gen. Theodore Roosevelt Jr., and a diorama of the D-Day landing.

Unique to the museum is a diorama of the rescue of Army Pfc. Jessica Lynch from Iraq. Prisoner Larry James spent six months fashioning the tribute, using mostly scraps of paper. He also scrounged for potato-chip bags, bread ties, toilet paper and popsicle sticks to work on the diorama in his cell at the Wabash Correctional Facility near Terre Haute, Ind.

Visitors can view the fine details of the diorama and other treasures by visiting the museum, free of charge, from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. on weekdays.

Making donations

Many of the Legion's library and museum items are donated by individuals who wish to honor the memory of a deceased individual or highlight the accomplishments of someone still living.

Others may have artifacts or artwork they would like to consider for addition to the Legion’s collections. Contact Howard Trace, Library and Museum Director, at:

Howard Trace
The American Legion
700 N. Pennsylvania St.
P.O. Box 1055
Indianapolis, IN 46206
(317) 630-1200
library@legion.org