A biography is an author's assessment of another person's life story based on evidence. The length can vary from a short one page essay, called a biographical essay, to a multi-paged book depending on the author's writing interests. A writer gathers biographical information largely from primary source documents. Primary sources are actual records from the past.

The primary source documents used in the writing of a biography could include birth, death, and marriage certificates, military records, census data, diaries, memoirs, interviews, newspaper articles, and the individual's audio and film recordings. Some writers consider primary sources to include cultural objects such as a person's clothing or image in a painting.

Provided is the military record, also known as the muster record, of Albert S. Green. The document is transcribed to show the different kinds of information the muster record offers researchers.

Muster Record Transcription

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