Code Girls

World War II Code Girls: What’s in a Name? 

Looking for Records? 
"Code girls:” the women who worked in cryptography (the practice of making a code) or as cryptanalysts (breaking codes) during World War II. They were commonly recruited from colleges and universities to work in the intelligence branches of Federal agencies.

However, you will not be able to locate your Code Girl ancestor easily within the record groups held by the National Archives or Military Personnel Records. There is no record group that encompasses a roster of all the Code Girls. It plainly does not exit.  Plus based on their jobs, you may never uncover their real job. 

What You May Learn
With the following in hand, you may uncover some personnel information: name, maiden name, date of birth, employing agency, and location of employment. You may be able to facilitate the search for Code Girl within the archives by providing this data and requesting by email to STL.archives@nara.gov. But again your pre-work is required.  It's also helpful if you can uncover where they were trained, and who hired them, or promoted them, as well as their last place of employment.  Many were recruited by women colleges and WAC - Army and Navy. 

African American Women Too

The Black Women Code Breakers of Arlington Hall Station

An All Black Group of Code Girls, cryptographers was headed by William D. Coffee (RG 146, Dept of Army/Airforce): 


Book: How the American Women Codebreakers of WWII Helped Win the War documents the triumphs and challenges of more than 10,000 women who worked behind the scenes of wartime intelligence

Resources
Many do not know there is a national Cryptologic Museum (NCM), a public museum in US Intelligence Community, located adjacent to the National Security Agency (NSA in Maryland.  This museum has artifacts and outlines the nation's history in code making and code breaking.  Plus there's a library of cryptologic media

The Petticoat Panel
Did you know the CIA did a study in 1953 on the Role of Women in Intelligence? A good, fun, but fiction audiobook Reverse Tell, podcast is Not Necessarily Nefarious. The women are there!

Kathleen Brandt
Be Historically Correct
a3genealogy.com
Accurate Accessible Answers
a3genealogy@gmail.com

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Hittin' the Bricks with Kathleen

Image
Hittin' the Bricks with Kathleen , sponsored by Tracing Ancestors  is brought to you by the following partners: 1 ) a3Genealogy : the big umbrella. A historical and forensic research firm. We partner with the 100% donation sponsored educational entities below. Visit our one-stop-shop: linktr.ee/a3Genealogy . 2) Tracing Ancestors : a 501c3 Not-for-profit education platform offering an internship program, educational blog. Our STEM - STEAM opportunities and programs for schools, colleges and university students and teachers. We partner with a3Genealogy research projects for internship experiences. This is a paid internship program. We rely on donations and grant monies for operating expenses. Be a part of our Tracing Ancestors Team. Be sure to go to this link to pledge your DONATION . All donations are applied to operating expenses for the educational podcast and youtube channel below. We are a fully volunteer based group. Here is more information on Tracing Ancestors. Podcast: Hi
Read more

Join Our 2023 STEM and STEAM Fundraising Campaign

Image
Genealogy Partnering with STEM & STEAM Tracing Ancestors has partnered genealogy with the fields of STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) and STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics) can provide us with a better understanding of our past. Tracing Ancestors is a non-profit (501C3) organization that aims to promote the intersection of these fields, offering a unique platform to explore the connections between our past and present, and to inspire future generations to become involved in these fields. However, like all non-profit organizations, the Tracing Ancestors STEM/STEAM program requires financial support to continue its mission. With your donations, we can make a significant impact toward building this genealogy, STEM, and STEAM educational program. How your donations can help: Donate at  Tracing Ancestors Education and Research: Donations can help fund education and research projects that aim to bridge the gap between genealogy and STE
Read more

Tracing Ancestors - A not-for-profit (501c3) Genealogy Company

Image
Donate at  Tracing Ancestors We've come a long way with DNA, but we need more! What has happened since our 501C3 Approval for Tracing Ancestors? We were approved Dec 2021. Education : Our paid interns have been on board since Jan 2022.  Of course, this is one one of our main objectives We have historically worked with the high school science classes and career programs, and will continue.  However, the Pandemic slowed us down. We will return Fall 2022- Spring 2023 school year.  We are collaborating with Women Colleges and HBCU's to get women involved in the sciences. Of course, we are also a team of Licensed Private Investigators.  Mostly we work with Forensic Genealogy, Adoption Cases, and Law Cases.  Our latest was fun 1942 murder trial.  Wait for the blog post information that covers "Frustrating - Where Are the Records." Stem: DNA Analysis: One - two classes a month since Feb 2022.  As mentioned as forensic genealogists, we encourage women and minorities to join t
Read more