Scratching that family history itch

Do you suffer from “voracious ravenousitis?”

Footnote Maven uses that bewitching term to describe her appetite for family history knowledge in an intriguing post about the rights and wrongs she’s endured in her own family history quest.

Randy Seaver at Genea-Musings got things rolling by listing his three biggest genealogical regrets. Maven added the three things she’s done correctly, presumably to help her combat her previously mentioned affliction.

Among the things she mentioned was her completion of the University of Washington Certificate Program in Genealogy and Family History. But that extraordinary program in Seattle requires a nine-month commitment, a sizeable-but-reasonable financial investment and relocation (for most of us).

Here are a couple of other suggestions that will get you away from that keyboard and monitor for a while, will give you entrée to your local genealogical community and won’t bust your family budget.

Find and join a local genealogical society. These can be found in many locales and will welcome you with open arms. Mostly run by passionate volunteers, they are driven to help people such as you. Fellow Iowans should check out the Iowa Genealogical Society.

Look for the nearest Family History Center. These are branches of the Family History Center in Salt Lake City and give you direct access to that organization’s vast archives. There are 3,400 of these branches worldwide but be warned – most are open just a few hours each week.

Just a note to tell you the first Passing It On monthly newsletter went out earlier this week. Contact me if you want me to e-mail you a copy.

Larry Lehmer is a personal historian who helps people preserve their family histories. To learn more, visit his web site or send him an e-mail.

Flickr photo courtesy of Domain Barnyard.

Comments

[Genealogy Guru]

I think it is so wonderful how many tools we have for tracing back our family roots. I've done a lot of work with my own genealogy, but I need to get out there and start helping others. One of the hardest parts (as you seem to know ;) is getting started!!

I do have a question though. More recently I've been wondering about preserving my own records (journals, for instances) for my posterity. I found this website, www.life-history-videos.com, which helps people preserve their memories through video tapes. Would you say that this is an important step in genealogy too?

[Larry Lehmer]

You're right, G.G., despite all the tools at our disposal, taking that first step is the hardest part of researching family history. At the very least, we should be making the records of our life journey accessible to future generations. Video adds that extra dimension of literally seeing and hearing our family stories. The biggest problem is the constantly changing technology. It can be a real chore to convert film to tape to digital to whatever is coming next.