New York in the World War One
The place to start is with the New York State Archives’ New York State Adjutant General's Office Abstracts of World War I Military Service. This will allow you to search by name. Another collection of note is the New York State Education Department Division of Archives and History World War I Veterans' Service Data and Photographs.
Both of these are available on Ancestry.com.
Please note that New York State residents have free access to parts of Ancestry.com.
Ancestry.com also has another database, U.S., Army Transport Service Arriving and Departing Passenger Lists, 1910-1939.
Link to the museum’s website: https://museum.dmna.ny.gov/unit-history/conflict/world-war-1-1914-1918
The link to the museum’s catalog is www.catalog.nysmm.org. This will allow you to search our different databases.
In addition to Ancestry.com is a related site, Fold3. Fold3 is a genealogy website that specializes in military records. If you have an All Access membership to ancestry you also get membership to Fold3.
Other places that may have information:
The Army Heritage & Education Center
950 Soldiers Drive, Carlisle, PA 17013
(717) 245-3971
US Army Center of Military History
103 Third Avenue
Ft. McNair, DC 20319-5058
Voice: 202.685.2704
Fax: 202.685.4570
National Archives and Records Administration
700 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20408
(1-866-272-6272)
New York State Library
Cultural Education Center
222 Madison Avenue
Albany, NY 12230
(518) 474-5355
New York State Archives
New York State Education Department
Cultural Education Center
Albany, NY 12230
(518) 474-6926
To search for Images see Sources of U.S. Military Images: Major Repositories
If you cannot find information on a particular soldier after reviewing these resources, the best advice is to look for information on the unit where the soldier served. You could also try searching for the unit’s commanders, who may have written memoirs or books about the war.
In addition to the above resources, a good place to search is WorldCat, www.worldcat.org, which is a database of thousands of library catalogs. However, this is more of a discovery database since you will not be able to borrow from it directly.
You might also be able to find unit histories at The Internet Archive.
Other possible resources are the local (to the solider/unit) historical societies and public libraries. Local newspapers also had many “local interest” stories about men and women when they enlisted, were promoted, died, etc.
There are also two great newspaper databases:
NYS Historic Newspapers
Fulton History (This database also covers the whole state)
Finally, all NYS residents have access to different research databases through the NYS Library