Free Genealogy Resources

Showing posts with label genealogy education. Show all posts

Thrifty Thursday: Genealogy Study Groups

Remember how in school, you would get together with a group of friends or classmate and worked together to study together. Everyone benefited from the the collaboration because you could discuss problems with the other members of the group until you had the topic mastered.

Until recently, at least as far as I'm aware, there was only one genealogy study group, the ProGen Study Group. Small groups are put together to study and learn from Elizabeth Shown Mills' Professional Genealogy: A Manual for Researchers, Writers, Editors, Lecturers and Librarians. The group works through the book together, with assignments based on the chapters covered. Assignments are shared with the group so everyone gets feedback. You can sign up by visiting the ProGen website.

Recently, a new genealogy study group was put together and it will be started soon. Headed by Tonia Kendrick of Tonia's Roots and Valerie Elkins of Family Cherished and Advantage Genealogy, the group will be studying two books, The Researcher's Guide to American Genealogy and The Source. The group will cover one to two chapters per month with monthly assignments based on the chapters covered. At the end of the 15 month study group, each member will put together a capstone project that encompasses all skills learned. You can sign up by contacting Tonia or Valerie.

Free Genealogy Videos

Today's free resource for tracing your family tree comes courtesy of a member of the Free Genealogy Resources Facebook community.

VideoJug offers over 60,000 free how-to videos and guides covering a number of subjects. They even have a channel for genealogy videos. Topics in the genealogy channel range from getting started to dealing with specific documents and more. A few of the genealogy videos available include:

How to Use Photographs to Trace Your Family Tree
How to Trace Your Coat of Arms
How to Trace a Relative When You Only Have Their Nickname

The majority of the videos are short. The videos are ad-supported so you have to watch a short ad before the video begins.

Free Genealogy Slide Shows

While researching the Genealogical Proof Standard earlier this week, I came across a slide show by Mark Tucker of Think Genealogy. I started poking around the site to see what else it had and low and behold there were tons more slide shows on genealogy. Check out SlideShare to see what all they have. A few of my finds so far include

Navigating Research with the Genealogical Proof Standard by Mark Tucker. (You can get the handout that goes with it here.)
Resources for Genealogical Research by the Bullitt County Public Library
Genealogy for Teens by Sharan Farmer
Canada Unspooled: Genealogical Research of Canadian Records
Cloud Computing and Genealogical Collaboration: How Technology Can Help Us Work Together by Jordan Jones (from National Genealogical Society Family History Conference 2011)

You can find more than just genealogy presentations. Do a search for a surname of interest. Some people have also uploaded their genealogy research data including family trees, family group sheets, copies of documents and more. Some of the surnames I've come across include Fullilove, Spencer, Blythe, Harris, Fiennes, Kent, Arendell, Wall and Thomas.

Can't Get to a Genealogy Conference or Society Meeting? Maybe You Don't Have To

Lately I've been thinking about the genealogy presentations I've had the pleasure of attending either in person or through webinars. I've learned at least one new thing, usually more than one, with each I've attended. It occurred to me that maybe they might offer more educational materials somewhere online. Sure enough, after doing a little digging, I found more.

Barry J Ewell is an accomplished genealogist who has lectured on a number of topics at several conferences. When I searched his name, I came across several of his presentations posted on the Family History and Genealogy website, including

Journals, Diaries, Cards and Letters
Digital Photography for the Genealogist
Top 20 Lessons Genealogists Need to Know
Newspapers-Hidden Family Treasures
Setting Up Your Home Family History Center
How to Effectively Use Historical Societies & Libraries
Writing Family Histories, Oral & Audiovisual Interviews
How Genealogists can Effectively Research on the Web
Digitally Preserving Your Family History and Heritage
Immigration & Migration
How to Plan Your Next Genealogy Trip

Presentations include the PowerPoint slides in PDF format as well as the accompanying article.

The Portland Area Personal Ancestral File Users Group has on their site quite a few class notes from presentations that have been given. While these are referred to as notes, many appear to be the actual presentation word for word. Presentations cover a wide variety of ground from research techniques to using specific genealogy websites and everything in between. As of May 2011, presentations include:

On The Trail of a Credentialed Genealogist
Research Aid: Analysis Chart
Research-Calendar-Land
Research-Calendar-Master
Dear Old Lady of Pisa
Where Do I Begin on my Genealogy
Combining and Separating Duplicate Records
Cemetery Research
Family Insight
Building a Record When No Research Proves a Point (Elizabeth Shown Mills)
Genealogical Proof-Useful Tips
Genealogy Research Map
Newspaper Facts Clues
PC Users Only-Computers and Electronic Records
Research Clues for Finding Female Ancestors
Electronic Records Going from Disorder to Organized
JR's File Management
Variety in Records
Genealogy Education-Enhance Your Research
Using Census Records
Clues in Census Records-Advanced Users
Family Tree View outline for New FamilySearch
Footprints of our Wanderers
Finding Help for New FamilySearch
Research Strategies
Out on the Web
Google Searches for Genealogy Research
Google Your Family Tree
Connecting Your PAF with New FamilySearch
Creating a Family History Legacy Bookmarks & Hyperlinks
Creating a Family History Legacy
WorldVitalRecords.com
NFS Preparing Names for Temple Work
Family Skeletons: Turning from the Dark Side
How Can I Make Better use of GenWeb in my Research
Ten Steps to Cemetery Research
Hiking on the Immigrant's Trail
Improving Your Internet Experience
Hard Drive Management for Genealogists
Using GeneaNet.Org to locate other researchers working on my same families or locations
Genetic DNA & Genealogy
Getting Started with PAF, Part 2 (3 handouts in one)
Do People Leave Home when Times are Good
Immigration and Naturalization Records
Attaching Multimedia Files in PAF
New FamilySearch (the 48 page one includes images, the 7 page one does not)
Working with Digital Pictures

All the class notes and handouts are in PDF form so you will need a program capable of reading this type of file (Adobe Reader is free). Because the notes are in PDF, you can easily save it to your computer for later reading or print a copy.

The Athens Regional Library System offers some handouts from classes and special presentations in their Heritage Room. While a few are location-centric, others would be helpful for anyone pursuing genealogy research. The handouts available include:

Taking Care of Your Family Paper, Image and Book Treasures
Getting Started with Genealogy: Basic Steps
Getting Started with Genealogy: Outline
Helpful Hints for Genealogical Research
Places to Research in the Athens-Clarke County Area
Resource Guide and Web/Bibliography
Genealogy on the Internet
Websites and Databases to Explore
Heritage Quest Online: What You Can Find From Home (directions to access are for patrons of this specific library, but most libraries offer this. just contact your local library for instructions to access)
Scottish Genealogy 2009 (two, the second is the extended version)
An Abbreviated Timeline of Scottish History and Records
Resources for Scottish Genealogy Research
Materials for Researching Revolutionary War Ancestors
PINES and WorldCat: Finding Materials in Distant Libraries (two parts, the first is slides and the second is the handout. While PINES is specific to Georgia, WorldCat is something all researchers should be aware of.)

These are just a few of the many handouts available. So even if you can't afford to attend a genealogy conference or don't have a genealogy or historical society nearby, you can still take advantage of the knowledge found in them. Look for another post with more handouts in the near future.

More Genealogy Education Resources

Today's free genealogy resource is more classes to help expand your knowledge of genealogical theory, technique and skills.

Unless you've been hiding under a rock for the last month or so, chances are you have heard something about RootsTech. If you didn't get a chance to attend, you will be happy to know that there are six of the presentations available online where you can watch them for free. These include presentations by FamilySearch International CEO Jay Verkler, Barry Ewell, Curt Witcher, Brian Pugh, Thomas MacEntee and Brewster Kahle. If you haven't checked them out yet, take some time to do so. You can find them here.

The Southern California Genealogical Society recently launched their Jamboree Extension Series. This is a series of Jamboree-style webinars that are available for free to anyone who is interested. Webinars are held twice a month on the first Saturday and third Wednesday of the month. If you see one you like, make sure to get there early as they are limited to the first 1000 people.

Recently completed webinars include Social Networking-New Horizons for Genealogists by Thomas MacEntee and Tell Me About When You Were a Child by George G Morgan. Upcoming webinars will be presented by other big names in genealogy such as Marian Pierre-Louis, Lisa Louise Cooke, Janet Hovorka, Lisa Alzo, DearMYRTLE and Maureen Taylor

Free Genealogy Lectures and Videos

I'm always looking for ways to expand my knowledge of genealogy. Whether it's information on methodology, tacking a particular research area or an interesting genealogical find, I love to hear about it. If I can get it for free, it's even better. So when I found out that the National Genealogical Society (NGS) has their own YouTube channel, I had to check it out.

The channel currently has 14 videos. These include discussions by genealogists on their research, researching at the National Archives, information on the NGS and its benefits to researchers, genealogy for youth, and becoming a genealogist.

While I was on YouTube, I decided to check out what else they had that might be helpful for those wanting to expand their knowledge of genealogy. A search of genealogy returns 5,190 results. These include everything from using specific tools in your research, researching at specific genealogy libraries and archives, ethnic research, DNA and more.

You can also search for names of specific genealogy lecturers such as DearMYRTLE, Bernie Gracy, Thomas MacEntee, Leland K Meitzler and more. If you've heard someone speak at a genealogy conference, chances are there is at least one video of them available on the site.

Having all these lectures and instructional videos in one place ranks YouTube a place in my research toolbox as a free genealogy resource.

Even More Free Genealogy Classes

Who doesn't love a freebie? While browsing the American Ancestors website, I came across a great free genealogy resource to expand your knowledge and help you build your family tree. In their Learning Center, you have access to information on getting started, webinars (referred to as online seminars on the site) and articles.

The getting started section is a basic guide to beginning your family tree research. One nice feature about this section as it offers links to forms, book lists and a list of genealogy software. Also in the getting started section is a guide designed specifically for youths.

The webinars cover multiple topics including getting started, using the tools available at NEHGS and American Ancestors, Irish research, records and resources, and strategies and methodologies. The page notes that seminars are added on a regular basis so be sure to check back if you can't find one that matches your needs.

The articles are free genealogy resources in themselves. Written by some of the top genealogists in the world, you're sure to learn something. The articles page allows you to search by location, author or topic. Just a few of the articles you can expect to find are African American Marriage Records, Computer Genealogist: Documenting Electronic Sources, and Mitochondrial DNA: A Genetic and Genealogical Study.

More Free Genealogy Classes

Genealogy classes can be an invaluable tool to furthering your research into your family tree. These free genealogy resources range in subject from general how-tos to more advanced research techniques.

FamilySearch has a number of free genealogy classes available. These include the England Beginning Research Series, Germany Research, the Ireland Beginning Research Series, Italy Research, New Zealand Research, Poland Research, the Reading Handwritten Records Series, Research Principles and Tools, Russia Research, and United States of America Research. These courses cover everything from getting started to specialized research areas and everything in between.

They also have courses on accreditation, certification and professional presentations from the Association of Professional Genealogists (APG), the Board for Certification of Genealogists (BCG) and the International Commission for the Accreditation of Professional Genealogists (ICAPGen).

LearnWebSkills offers a free self-paced course called Researching Your Family Tree: An Introduction to Genealogy. Even if you're not a beginner, it's worth checking out for the section on citing sources, which includes several examples including citations for vital records, webpages, interviews and more.

Ancestry is well-known as a subscription site for genealogy research. But did you know that they also offer some freebies? Visitors to the site can view previously recorded webinars on a variety of topics. These include Coming to America: Finding Your Immigrant Ancestors, Avoid Traps in African American Genealogy, and European Research: Tips and Tools for Success, just to name a few.

What can you learn from these free genealogy resources?

Free Genealogy Classes

If you are new to genealogy, you may be wondering exactly what it is you need to do. Genealogy classes can help. While there are paid versions available, I've managed to round up some free ones to try.

Brigham Young University's Division of Continuing Education offers a free course for amateur genealogists called Finding Your Ancestors. Just enter your email address and answer a few questions to gain access. Be sure to check out their full list of free courses. They have several other genealogy courses that can help.

Genealogy.com offers several free courses for genealogists. You can choose from Beginning Genealogy, Internet Genealogy, and Tracing Immigrant Origins. There are also site-specific courses on how to use Genealogy.com for your research.

The Genealogy section of About.com offers a self-paced class with four lessons. Lesson 1 covers basics, lesson 2 looks at family and home sources, lesson 3 examines genealogical researching and lesson 4 gives an overview of vital records.

There is a Yahoo Groups based genealogy course for beginners. All you need to sign up is a Yahoo ID (free!).

Mother Hubbards Cupboard offers several free courses for amateur and more experienced genealogists. Classes range from Australian Genealogy to a class to become a Registered Genealogists. Be sure to check out all the free classes available.