Genealogists often wish they could squeeze more hours out of the day. If you’re one of them, now might be the time to turn to projects you could never get around to.
Because of the coronavirus, Georgians are sheltering in place. And, if you are not homeschooling or working, it could be an excellent time to get organized.
Family photographs often get neglected. Sort those out — be sure they are labeled and organized by families. If you don’t know who some folks are, try to scan or take photos of them and share those with relatives who might know. Maureen Taylor, the Photo Detective, has good pointers on her website — maureentaylor.com. She has some great podcasts and several books to help you identify clothing and other details to help date your family photographs.
Are you using a genealogy program to organize your family data? If not, now is a good time to purchase one and start. You could just begin writing some memos about each family and what you know. Make it interesting enough to share with family members and hope someone will care enough to keep and treasure it in the future. You can make a story a lot more interesting than a chart. Most folks find that boring. Make sure your story is factual and captures the sagas of old that our ancestors sat around the fire and heard from their elders.
Georgia Historical Society has lots to offer students
The Georgia Historical Society (georgiahistory.com) wants everyone to know that it continues to place on its website a great deal of material about Georgia history. Teachers can sign up for the Education Network. The website offers Hidden Histories, Georgia Historical Markers, information on historical figures related to Georgia and, specifically for teachers, the Primary Source Sets. There’s information on Women’s Suffrage in Georgia, videos at the GHS Schoolhouse video blog, as well as digitized documents from the Society’s collection as well as its quarterly. There are also many other videos, podcasts and blogs on the website.
What was your favorite genealogy breakthrough?
In looking back on your genealogy research, you might want to write down the details about some of your major genealogy breakthroughs and the joy of those discoveries. Many of these were probably by sheer accident, others could be the result of careful research planning.
About the Author
