The Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War External, a fraternal organization dedicated to preserving the history and legacy of veteran heroes of the Union in the American Civil War, has graciously agreed to link their Grand Army of the Republic Records Project External to this guide. Organized in 1881 and chartered by Congress in 1954, the SUVCW is the legal heir and successor to the Grand Army of the Republic. The primary feature of the GAR Records Project is the SUVCW's online catalog listings of all known GAR Posts and associated records. This is an ongoing project, and the SUVCW continues to gather more GAR information. Locating the repositories of surviving records for over 10,000 GAR Posts is a massive effort, and the SUVCW members know that many records are yet to be found. If you know of any GAR records that aren't in their catalog, please contact External the SUVCW.

Each state entry includes the name of department, the date it was organized, a link to the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War - Grand Army of the Republic Records Project External, and a list of relevant GAR materials found in the general collections of the Library of Congress. Many of the GAR items found in the Library of Congress Online Catalog have been digitized. The catalog records include links to full-text digital copies found at HathiTrust External and Internet Archive External. If an item's record in the Library of Congress Online Catalog does not include a digital copy link, it is still useful to search for that item at HathiTrust External and Internet Archive External, as other institutions may have contributed a digital copy from their collections.