Today marks a historic milestone for our organization as we officially launch The Center for State Defense Force History, now live at sdfhistory.org. The Center serves as the nation’s dedicated hub for preserving, documenting, and sharing the remarkable century-long legacy of America’s State Defense Forces. For far too long, the stories of these Soldiers—their missions, their sacrifices, and their contributions to national and community defense—have remained scattered across forgotten archives and fading photographs. Through this new initiative, we aim to bring their history back into the light.
Click Here To Visit The New Website
The mission of The Center for State Defense Force History is clear and ambitious: to locate, restore, and digitize one hundred years of historical materials spanning from 1917 to 2017. This includes mission reports, after-action summaries, evaluation documents, organizational records, photographs, and films chronicling the service of State Defense Force Soldiers from World War I through the modern era. By creating a permanent digital archive, we ensure that their courage and service will never fade into obscurity. Future generations of Americans—and today’s State Defense Force Soldiers—will be able to explore and celebrate the proud heritage of those who stood ready to defend their states and nation during some of the most turbulent moments in U.S. history.
We are launching the site today and will continue to add a wealth of content in the coming weeks, months, and years until every document, photograph, and film we can locate has been carefully digitized and preserved. This is a massive undertaking, one that requires both time and resources to accomplish. At present, the website is funded entirely through our Patreon members, whose generosity covers our hosting and domain costs, staff compensation for online research, communication with archivists, and travel to state military museums and libraries to locate original materials and digitize them.
Because of this, until we secure grants from state or federal agencies or partner universities, we must keep the content exclusive to our Patreon members. However, anyone can support this mission for as little as $1 per month, and even that modest contribution goes a long way toward helping us continue the digitization of these vital historical works. Once grant funding allows us to cover operational expenses and staff costs, our plan is to make all content freely available to the public.
Each Patreon tier plays a vital role in preserving and expanding the archive of State Defense Force history. Our $1 Private Tier grants access to all historical articles and books we collect and digitize, offering a foundation of knowledge about the formation, missions, and evolution of State Defense Forces across the past century. The $5 Corporal Tier provides access to more in-depth materials, including historical evaluation reports and after-action reports that document real-world missions and training operations. Finally, our $10 Sergeant Tier offers access to the historical multimedia collection, which will feature the photographs and films we recover and digitize from archives across the country. This tier structure exists because different types of materials require vastly different levels of time, travel, and technical resources to recover. For example, locating after-action reports—such as The New York State Guard’s World War I report detailing engagements with Axis saboteurs requires extensive research and coordination with state archives. Similarly, digitizing photographs and films demands specialized equipment that we must either rent or purchase to properly preserve this content. We sincerely apologize for this temporary limitation, but once our first grant is approved, all materials will become publicly accessible. Until then, we ask for your support in helping us rescue and preserve this vital chapter of American military history by becoming a Patreon member today.
Click Here To Become a Patreon Member
We deeply appreciate the patience and understanding of our supporters as we build this lasting archive of service, sacrifice, and history. Every contribution brings us closer to ensuring that the story of America’s State Defense Forces will never be forgotten, and that their legacy will remain preserved for generations to come.
Before we end the article we want to recognize and thank our new Director of The Center for State Defense Force History, Major (TX) Adam Gonzales. He has been an incredible resource and asset as we prepared for our launch. If you wish to contact him to offer any State Guard History Documents, Records, Photographs, or Films please email him at -> [email protected] .