Summer travel is a good time to include a visit to your ancestors’ home turf and check out local resources, both records and people.
Nowadays, it’s easy to research ahead and note the hours for libraries, historical societies and museums.
Just going to a state and county where your ancestors lived can lead to great observations. Equally important is to meet librarians, historical society members, historians and other experts in local records. Making friends among some of these can’t hurt if you have to follow up on clues you find.
Libraries and local historical societies often have vertical files of loose materials donated by other researchers, or collected by the group. These files frequently contain some great clues.
Always be prepared to leave them your card as well as an information sheet about whom you are researching. Sign in if there is a sign-in book; I have met a few people that way. Join the local society to get a feel for what they do and to be able to place a query in future newsletters or publications. Buy copies, if you can, of publications and maps. Use your smartphone to make instant copies.
I travel with a research notebook with notes on what to look up, as well as details on hours and places.
"Genealogy Roadshow" returns May 17
“Genealogy Roadshow,” Season 3, is scheduled to begin May 17 on PBS and will be shown here on Georgia Public Broadcasting.
Professional genealogists will meet with local folks, starting in Albuquerque, N.M., and in the following weeks in Miami, Houston, Boston and Providence, R.I., ending in Los Angeles June 28.
Each episode features the untangling of genealogical mysteries and family stories. This is one of several genealogy-themed shows currently running on television, each of which helps promote genealogical research in different ways.
Fayetteville, Newnan papers now online
The Digital Library of Georgia has expanded its West Georgia Historic Newspapers Archive to include digitized newspapers from Fayetteville, covering mostly 1888 to 1925, and various titles from Newnan covering 1865 to 1921.
To check these, and the large number of other Georgia newspapers online, see dlg.galileo.usg.edu/MediaTypes/Newspapers.html.
About the Author
