Saturday, January 15, 2005

Family History Resources

Few things are as educationally powerful as assisting young people in researching and writing about their family heritage. Family elders are often an ideal audience for young writers, drawing out the best that they have to say. At the same time, in coming to see more clearly how that elder was once young, students develop their own historical consciousness, sensing better what they themselves are becoming.

Articles

”Assembling the Family History Puzzle” offers an overview to family history research with a simple guide for getting started, published by MSNBC.

Family History Package of activities excerpted from the book, Do People Grow on Family Trees? from The Ellis Island Foundation. Includes

• Are you ready to unravel the mystery of your family history?
• Beginning Your Genealogical Search
• A Step-by-Step Guide to Your Genealogical Treasure Hunt
• Thirteen Steps to a Successful Interview
• How to Find—and Use—Documents About Your Family
• The Sources: The Best Places to Check for Ancestors’ Records
• How to Help Others Enjoy Your Genealogical Discoveries

Family History Blogs

“GenealogyBlog: Your genealogy coffee break,� sponsored by Heritage Creations, is a newsletter “for the genealogy community to come and share information. It is written by genealogists for genealogists. The Blog covers the latest news in the genealogy field, provides announcements, quick reviews of new products, and provides useful information and tips for genealogists.� The Blog is updated almost daily.

Eastman’s Online Genealogy Newsletter is a free genealogy newsletter, published daily.

Genealogy Resources, an information blog generated by Marcus P. Zillman

Online Courses

Introduction to Genealogy online course by Kimberly Powell gives a four-lesson introduction to doing family history, including oral history, online research, and written correspondence.

Your Great Ancestral Hunt is a simple 6-lesson course for beginners offered by Genealogy Research Associates.

Beginning Internet Genealogy is a 15-lesson course offered by Genealogy.com. It includes these lessons:

• Lesson 1: Usenet Newsgroups
• Lesson 2: Creating Effective Queries
• Lesson 3: Online Reference Sites
• Lesson 4: Genealogy Data Online
• Lesson 5: Using Newspapers for Research
• Lesson 6: Libraries in the Digital Age
• Lesson 7: Genealogy Files Online
• Lesson 8: Conducting an Oral History
• Lesson 9: GEDCOM Mysteries Revealed
• Lesson 10: Geographic Tools and Resources
• Lesson 11: Finding People Online
• Lesson 12: Armchair Travel for Genealogists
• Lesson 13: Search Engines—Sorting Through the Web
• Lesson 14: Organization is the Key!
• Lesson 15: Internet Genealogy Chat via IRC
• Lesson 16: Historical Timelines and Resources

Finding Your Family History, an online course offered by PBS on its website Ancestors.

Conferences

”Building A Lasting Legacy” Genealogy and Family History Conference, July 26-29, 2005

The 37th annual BYU Genealogy and Family History Conference will be held July 26–29, 2005, in the BYU Conference Center. Seven information tracks will be available, Beginning Family History, Family History Center Support, Computers, Europe/Nordic Research, British Research, U.S. Research, Methodology and Publishing Family Histories. We invite you to attend the conference to build and strengthen your family ties through genealogy and family history. Keep in mind that limited housing is available.

Websites

Cyndi’s List of Genealogical Sites on the Internet

Ancestors: The companion web site to the PBS family history and genealogy television series.