• Posted on March 7, 2017March 6, 2017
• by Shannon Bennett
• Leave a comment on Starting the US: Institutional Records Course

  by Shannon Combs-Bennett, student When you think of an “institution” what comes to mind first? For me, it is prisons or asylums. But guess what, this word can cover a whole bunch of other places as well. Places which most of us had ancestors in attendance. Not to say all ancestors were black sheep, just that they had reasons to attend an established facility. The 6-week course US: Institutional Records  does cover researching prisons and asylums as well as a variety of other institutions. Places like poorhouses, orphanages, schools, and veteran’s homes. In addition, the course author, Amy Johnson Crow, also covers where to find the records and how to trace the clues. Both of which are crucial to a successful search. I do not have any black sheep ancestors, much to my personal disappointment, but I and my husband do have ancestors which fall into other categories. This gives me hope that I can fill in more details about their lives for my research. Maybe even break down a wall or two in the process. On that note, I am very excited to get started. Off to read the first modules. See you online!

• Posted on February 21, 2017
• by Angela Breidenbach
• Leave a comment on New Course: Australian Education Records

The National Institute for Genealogical Studies is proud to announce the addition of a new course in our Australian Records Certificate program. Australian: Education Records written by professional genealogist Shauna Hicks explores the various kinds of education records available to the family history researcher. Education records can be a fascinating resource to add more detail and interest to our ancestor’s lives. The records may not always give us biographical information to take our family lines further back in time, but the records will tell us more about the lives they lived. Today’s education arrangements are quite different from those in the 18th and 19th centuries. For the purposes of this course, we will mostly be looking at educational records from 1788 through to 1950. We will explore education records which can include archival records, memorabilia, photographs, building plans, newspaper reports, published school histories and local histories. Archival records are those created by the school such as administrative files, correspondence files, building files, pupil admission registers, corporal punishment registers of teachers, photographs of buildings and pupils, building plans, sporting memorabilia and other records. Records explored will span primary school to adult education and will include students as well as staff. This advanced course begins March 6, 2017 and commences every two months. Register today!

• Posted on February 14, 2017February 14, 2017
• by Shannon Bennett
• Leave a comment on Specialty Newspapers in the United States

by Shannon Combs-Bennett, student Extra! Extra! Read all about…. Specialty newspapers!  Seriously, I learned a lot about niche newspapers in Module 5 of the US: Newspaper Records course. While I don’t think I will be able to use it in my personal research I am certain this knowledge with come in handy for when I help others with their research. I was surprised by the number and types of specialty, or niche, type newspapers that were published throughout US history.  Many of us may be familiar with ethnic newspapers, especially if we have immigrant ancestors from non-English speaking countries. However, did you know about that the following types of newspapers were published too? Ethnic, including Native and African American Religious Military Labor / Occupation No matter which type of specialty newspaper you decide to investigate you will be able to do so with a bit of help from the five page finding aid section of this module. My family has a long line of military involvement which means I need to follow those leads to see if I can find anything for my research in them. If I don’t find my people in them I am hopeful that I will be able to add context, images, and stories about what they did to my personal files.  You know, breathe some life into those biographies! This module surprised me with the amount of information to say the least.  I know you will get a lot out of it too!! I hope…

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• Posted on February 7, 2017February 10, 2017
• by Shannon Bennett
• Leave a comment on What Do You Know About US Newspapers?

  by Shannon Combs-Bennett, student Who loves history?  I do! I know you probably do too. Which is why Module 1 of the US: Newspaper Records course was absolutely amazing to read. Most of the module covered the history of newspapers in the US as well as an overview of the information you can discover. There was so much excellent information in those pages. Many people don’t know that there were regular newspapers in the Americas dating all the way back to the 1600s. As the colonies grew, so did the number of newspapers. Not all of them were successful, but the ones that we are lucky enough to still have today are a great insight into life during that time.  Which is one of the things that excites me most about old newspapers. A window into the past, that is what I like to think of newspapers. You can see exactly what was happening in a community during a specific day, week, or even month. It is one of the purest ways to study the social history of our ancestors. The course author includes a section about advertising in the newspapers. Advertisements are great, not only for the social history aspect, but also to give you clues about your ancestors if they were in business.  For instance, one of the best advertisements I found in a newspaper was for my 3rd great grandmother’s hotel in my hometown. Because of that advertisement,  I learned the cost of a nightly rate…

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