Keeping In Touch With The National Institute For Genealogical Studies

In the genealogy world we need to communicate with each other to keep abreast of the constantly evolving research methods and resources. The same is true within The National Institute for Genealogical Studies. As a student of the National Institute, there are various ways you can communicate with us and your fellow students. Here is how: #1 By email to the National Institute NOTE: When contacting us please include your FIRST & LAST NAME and the COURSE TITLE, including the COUNTRY the course applies to. It is also helpful if you include the module number and section title you are referring to. i) admin@genealogicalstudies.com – for general questions; ii) alert@genealogicalstudies.com – to advise us of broken links in your course materials and assignments–please be specific as to where problem is; iii) exam@genealogicalstudies.com – questions pertaining to your course exam. #2 By email to a fellow student When you view a fellow student’s public assignment SUBMISSION/ANSWER and you would like to contact them about something in their posting, simply click on the envelope icon to the right of the student’s name. A new window will open where you can type your message. For privacy reasons, you will not see the recipient’s email address and they have the option to reply or not. #3 Attend a Virtual Meeting VIRTUAL MEETINGS ARE THE BEST PLACE TO COMMUNICATE with an instructor and fellow students. Anyone can participate! You do not have to be registered in the course to attend. When attending virtual meetings, please…

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Post-Mortem Photography

Photographing the Recently Deceased Post-mortem photography, photographing the recently deceased, may seem like a rather macabre Victorian era practice. Post-mortem photographs were still being made, though less frequently, during the early years of the 20th century up through the present day. Recognizing post-mortem photographs is not always easy. In most cases, the deceased are photographed lying in bed or propped up on a chair or sofa, appearing to be asleep. The poses of the deceased were usually orchestrated so that they appeared as natural and life-like as possible. The dead were not usually photographed in a casket until the very late 1800s or early 1900s. Some memorial portraits featured an array of flowers surrounding the deceased. Memorial portraits are easy to date because they were generally made in the home immediately after passing. With our Photography: Clues Pictures Hold, Editing, Digitizing and Various Projects course you will learn about examining photographs and identifying important details.

2019 Graduation Ceremony

Congratulations Graduates!!! The National Institute for Genealogical Studies invites you to come celebrate with us, with our students, our graduates and our instructors. Anyone can attend. Graduates: invite your family – everyone is welcome! Join us for our 2019 graduation ceremony on Friday the 21st of June as we honor GRADUATES of the National Institute for Genealogical Studies’ Certificate in Genealogical Studies program. This year, it will be late in the afternoon (4:00pm), in London Ontario, at the start of the Ontario Genealogical Society’s annual conference. Our students and graduates are from all around the world. Naturally, because of the far away distances, many graduates cannot attend in person. For the last many years, through the use of a Virtual Meeting Room, we were able to reach a much greater number of students and graduates. Again, this year, we will use a ‘virtual’ meeting room for those who cannot attend locally, and let’s hope, once again, the technology will co-operate! We will give you more details later as to how to connect. ALL GRADUATES (in-person and virtually): it is very important that you let us know if you will be attending. Please send an e-mail to: degroot@genealogicalstudies.com with a copy to admin@genealogicalstudies.com indicating your intention to attend either in-person or virtually. You will receive a confirmation message indicating that we’ve received your email. Further information will be included. If you DO NOT receive this confirmation message from Sue, please call 1-800-580-0165 ext. 1 or 2 to let us know. If you cannot attend, please also…

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Family History Research

Before you start your family history research What can be better than researching your family history?! While it is a fulfilling pursuit it is also a lot of work. You should expect to run into some problems along the way. It’s important though, that you not create your own frustrations by making mistakes in the initial stages of your research. A couple of don’ts Don’t make any assumptions. Don’t believe anything you are told unless it can be confirmed by documentation. Beware of stories suggesting royal or noble descent. Most of our first ancestors had occupations connected to agriculture and the land. The most important order of action is to always start with the known and find your way to the unknown. Whose genealogy do you want to trace? As early on as you can in your project, you should try to make this decision. You may want to trace just your father’s ancestor, or perhaps a maternal line, or all of your children’s ancestors. If you research all four grandparents’ families, then you are tracing your complete lineage, both female and male ancestors. The number of ancestors you will find will double for each generation completed. If you are successful in researching 10 generations, you will have 1022 ancestors. Our course, Methodology-Part 1: Getting Started, will assist you in using correct research methodology as you trace your family tree.

Who has Grandma’s Photo?

 Family Albums, Friends and Neighbors Obviously, knowing where a photograph came from is always helpful. Because of social media and genealogy websites, you may have access to family photographs posted by a family member or even a friend of the family. That person’s photograph collection may include more pictures of the same ancestor taken at different times or with other relatives. Family albums are repositories of photographs of friends, neighbors, and relatives by marriage. It is possible that a photograph of your grandmother may turn up in an album belonging to her former neighbors. Those neighbor’s grandchildren may now have that photograph album in their possession. As you document that photograph and its provenance, you might also want to note the photographer who took the image. The names of photographers and their studio locations are sometimes indicated inside old union cases. In later studio portraits this information is sometimes printed right below the image. This is often the case with Cabinet Cards. These photos can include quite an ornate photographer identification or it may simply state, Merchison Studios, Eligin, Illinois. Most people did not travel far to have their picture taken, so their photographer of choice was right in their neighborhood. Learning how to examine the content and identifying a photograph is a must for the family historian. With our Photography: Clues Pictures Hold, Editing, Digitizing and Various Projects course you will learn more on how to accomplish this.