The Steps of Methodology 3

By Shannon Combs Bennett, Student Well, I have entered the realm of the Intermediate coursework. I decided that I am going to first take Methodology 3, 4 and 5 back-to-back  to lay the ground work for the other courses that are coming in this section. Following those three, I will work on the rest of the required courses for the American Records Certificate and then a few electives. So, hang on to see what I am up to over the next few months. Methodology 3 is broken into six steps the instructor thinks you need to know to be successful. The first three steps are covered in Methodology 3 with the last three covered in Methodology 4. Which made me thankful that I was taking these two courses back-to-back since they really read as a part 1 and part 2 of the same course. These steps are: Defining your goals Learning the basics Deciding on strategies for research Effective searching and recording Documentation Presenting and preserving your research For this post I will focus on my takeaways from the first steps listed. The next post will cover Methodology 4 and the last three steps. To be honest, Methodology 3 focuses primarily on setting up your office space and further honing your research skills. Now “office space” may be too formal of a term. I started out at my kitchen table with boxes that I shifted around when we actually had to use it. Just recently I have moved into the…

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Ulster Historical Foundation Lecture Tour, 2015:  Yakima, Washington

By Deborah Dale, student Whether or not three brothers on my paternal side really did make the journey from Ulster to Maryland during the seventeenth century is beside the point. The point is that I recently traveled to Yakima, Washington to attend several fantastic lectures hosted by the Yakima Valley Genealogical Society and presented by Fintan Mullan and Gillian Hunt of the Ulster Historical Foundation, who were winding down their 2015 genealogy lecture tour. I arrived just in time for the introductions of the speakers and the first lecture. After giving my name at the registration area, I picked up my conference packet, which included pages and pages in a spiral-bound book created by PRONI (the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland), which began with a section on How to Trace Your Family Tree and continued with sections on the 1901 and 1911 Irish censuses, census substitutes, wills and probate, church records, valuation records, national education records, and much more. The room was full with only a few seats still open. I sat down at a table at the back of the room as Fintan Mullan started speaking, and as I noticed various flyers of family history resources lying on the table, which apparently complemented my conference packet and included a nice heritage map of the Ulster Plantation, large enough to hang on a wall. Also included was a flyer from the Irish Manuscripts Commission, a public body established in 1928 that promotes access to sources of Irish history and culture.…

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New Course: Research-Social History

Looking for a course that adds to your understanding of your ancestor’s life? The National Institute for Genealogical Studies is proud to announce a new course written by genealogist and social historian Barbara J. Starmans, PLCGS, Research: Social History. About social history Barbara Starmans writes, “Social History is not concerned with politics and wars, or kings and presidents, but rather with the lives of ordinary people. It is a view of history from the bottom up, rather than from the top down. Looking through the lens of the past will enhance your understanding of how your ancestors lived, worked and played in their daily lives, and will add depth to your family stories. It is often the minutia of someone’s life that tells the story of who they were and what they believed in. Beyond the names and dates of genealogy, each of your ancestors has a story to tell, and by learning about their time and place and how they lived in it, you will add to your understanding of who they were.” Research: Social History is an  introduction to social history that will provide examples and resources of subject matter from many areas of interest to the social historian. Rather than being a comprehensive discussion of social history, the material is intended to inspire your research into the lives of your people and the times and places they lived in. Your ancestors, their families, and the society they lived in may be different from the examples given but only by researching…

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New Course: Personal Historian – Video Techniques

Are you a professional genealogist or a personal historian looking to add  video taped interviews to your services? Ready to enhance your current audio visual skills? Personal Historian: Video Techniques is the course you’ve been searching for! Personal Historian: Video Techniques  was written by Carol Cassidy,  a well-known expert in her field. Carol Cassidy has been using cameras and audio gear to record and share first-person life stories for almost 30 years. Her clients include PBS stations, the BBC, CNN, human rights groups and the United Nations. She has worked in 35 countries, often collecting first-person stories in war zones, refugee camps and disaster areas. Carol holds a master’s degree from New York University. She is the author of a book of first-person interviews collected in conjunction with a PBS documentary series she produced and directed. She is the recipient of ten competitive fellowships, including one from the American Film Institute, one from the PBS Producer’s Academy, two from the (US) National Endowment for the Arts and three from the (US) Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Carol has taught film and video making at institutions including UCLA Film School, the International Film and Television Workshops in Maine and Atlanta’s Image Film and Video Center. Personal Historian: Video Techniques is designed to introduce the basics of audio-video production for personal historians and genealogists, that is, people who want to use current digital audio and video tools to record, edit and share life stories. Audio-video productions encompass four phases of work: pre-production, production,…

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More About the Course German: Civil Registration Records

By Michele Simmons Lewis, Student In the course German: Civil Registration Records, the first thing you will learn is what types of civil records the German-speaking countries generate and where you can find them. Finding them is not as easy as it sounds. Every local jurisdiction has its own Standesamt (civil registry office). You have to know exactly where your ancestor lived to find his/her records. Since I had already taken the German: Locating Places in Germany course this was familiar territory. German gazetteers like Meyers Orts- und Verkehrs-Lexikon des Deutschen Reichs will help you find the correct jurisdiction. Civil registration started early on, as early as 1792 in some places, so this is a great source for birth , marriage, and death certificates (Geburtsurkunden, Heiratsurkunden und Sterbeurkunden). In the second module of this course you learn what sort of information you can expect to find in these records. German civil records are fairly uniform across the different jurisdictions and contain a lot of genealogical data. Many Standesamts used typeset, fill-in-the blank forms which usually makes them easier to read than church records of the same time period. Many of Germany’s civil records have been microfilmed by the Family History Library (FHL). The FHL’s FamilySearch website is starting to upload some of these microfilms online as they are being digitized (check the Records collection for Germany). Don’t make the mistake of thinking that what you see on FamilySearch is all there is. You must also check the FamilySearch Catalog. You…

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