Your First 30 Days of Family History Research
A week-by-week plan for starting your family tree the right way, from interviewing relatives to finding your first census record.
Organizing Your Research
Systems for files, notes, sources and research logs that keep a growing tree under control.
Organizing Your Research So You Never Lose a Find
A simple system for files, notes and research logs that keeps your family history from turning into a pile of unlabeled downloads.
Interviewing Relatives: The Questions That Unlock Family History
Your older relatives know things no record will ever tell you. How to prepare, what to ask, how to record it, and what to do with the answers.
Recording Names, Dates and Places the Right Way
Hospital town or hometown? Maiden name or married name? County then or county now? Simple conventions that keep your family tree clear, consistent and easy for others to use.
Preserving and Scanning Family Papers, Bibles and Photos
How to store, handle and digitize family documents and photographs so they last another hundred years, without expensive equipment.
Owning Your Research: Family Tree Software, GEDCOM and Backups
If your tree lives only on a website, you don't fully control it. How to keep your own copy with desktop software and GEDCOM files, and how to back up years of work.
Writing Your Family History: From Research Notes to a Story People Will Read
Years of research don't mean much if no one can understand them. How to turn names and dates into a readable family history, from a single ancestor's story to a printed book.
Other topics
Getting Started 21Census Records 16Birth, Marriage & Death Records 15Church Records 12Cemeteries & Burials 2Newspapers & Obituaries 3Land & Property Records 7Wills, Probate & Court Records 13Tax Records 3Military Records 5Immigration & Naturalization 12DNA & Genetic Genealogy 9Libraries & Archives 8Research in the Old Country 10African American Research 2Research Methods & Evidence 31Brick Walls 11Organizing Your Research 7Online Sites & Family Trees 11