Seeking records of 142nd Infantry Regimental Band

At Federalization in 1940, every Infantry Regiment of the 36th Infantry Division had a band:

141st IR- San Antonio, Texas

142nd IR- Brownwood, Texas

143rd IR- Waco, TX

144th IR- Midlothian, Texas

In the Adjutant General Reports for Texas- in the 1920-1930 time frame, of the Infantry Regiments only the 144th IR is listed as having an officer assigned to the Band Section. In the 1930s, of the Infantry Regiments, both the 143rd and 144th are listed. The 111th Medical and 112th and 124th Cavalry, also part of the 36th ID also have bands listed in the 1920-1940 time frame

Lisa Sharik

Texas Military Forces Museum

Dear Chief Warrant Officer Lightsey,

Thank you for posting your request on History Hub!

We searched the National Archives Catalog but were unable to locate unit records for National Guard regiments during the 1920s and 1930s. However, we did locate Central Decimal Files, 1917 - 1925 and Central Files, 1926 - 1939 in the Records of the Adjutant General's Office (Record Group 407).  These records are arranged according to the War Department Decimal File System and may have related files under Decimal 322.52 (Infantry Bands).  Additionally, we located Decimal Files, 1922 - 1963 and Administrative Decimal Files, 1920 - 1953 in the Records of the National Guard Bureau (Record Group 168) that may have records related to the 142nd Infantry Regimental Band. For more information about these records, please contact the National Archives at College Park - Textual Reference (RDT2) at archives2reference@nara.gov.

Due to the continued impact of COVID-19, you may experience a delay in receiving an initial acknowledgment as well as a substantive response to your reference request from RDT2.  We apologize for this inconvenience and appreciate your understanding and patience as we balance mission-critical work and the safety of our staff during the pandemic. Please check NARA’s web page about COVID-19 updates for the latest information.

Because the unit was not federalized at the time, there may be limited or no information regarding it at the National Archives. We suggest that you contact the Adjutant General for the State of Texas and the Texas State Library and Archives Commission for assistance with locating state level records. Plus, if you have not done so already, we suggest contacting the U.S. Army Center of Military History and the Texas Military Forces Museum for assistance with your unit history research. Next, you may wish to contact the Brown County History website and the Brown County Public Library for assistance with local history research.

Finally, we located records related to the 142nd Infantry Regimental Band in the Texas Tech University Southwest Collections/Special Collections Library.

We hope this is helpful. Best of luck with your research!