How to Guides
- Principles of Family History ResearchFrom FamilySearch; getting started!
- Gather Family InformationStep 3 of Principles of Family History Research
- How to Start Researching Your Family TreeOnline free courses, etc. from FamilySearch
- Family History Research WikiFree family history research advice for the community, by the community
- Black Roots : a Beginner's Guide to Tracing the African American Family TreePrint: Ref E 185.96 .B94 2001
- A Genealogist's Guide to Discovering Your Immigrant & Ethnic Ancestors: How to Find and Record Your Unique HeritagePrint: Ref CS 49 .C384 2000
- Print and download free blank Census forms from Ancestry.comSee what questions were asked across the decades
Home Sources and Interviewing
- 5 Minute Genealogy Episode 19: I Want to Interview a Living RelativeVideo lesson from FamilySearch
- Home Sources: Ancestry.com WikiThis article originally appeared in "The Foundations of Family History Research" by Sandra Hargreaves Luebking, FUGA, and Loretto Dennis Szucs, FUGA in The Source: A Guidebook to American Genealogy
- Home ChecklistThis checklist is a list of possible items in the home that can provide valuable genealogical information.
Other tools and sites
- Mapping the Freedmen’s Bureau – An Interactive Guide"This site is devoted to pointing out the many places that affected the newly freed survivors of slavery. The sites where Freedman’s Bureau offices were located are marked for you. In addition other institutions that served former slaves, are marked – the branches of the Freedman’s Savings Bank, Freedmen Schools, contraband camps, and even the location of battle sites where men who were in the US Colored Troops fought."
Reference Sources
- The Handybook for Genealogists: United States of AmericaPrint: Ref CS 47 .H36 2002
- The Hidden Half of the Family: a Sourcebook for Women's GenealogyPrint: Ref CS 49 .S322 1999
Accessing the Historical U.S. Census Materials Online
The U.S. Census of Population (manuscript version with peoples' names) has been digitized and is available via Ancestry.com/Ancestry Library Edition.
Using the Census
- The Census Book: a Genealogist's Guide to Federal Census Facts, Schedules, and IndexesPrint: Ref CS 49 .D65 2000
- Encyclopedia of the U.S. CensusPrint: Ref HA 37.U55 C66 2000
- Finding Answers in U.S. Census RecordsPrint: Ref CS 49 .S984 2001
Citing Your Sources
- Evidence Explained: Citing History Sources from Artifacts to Cyberspace by Elizabeth Shown MillsPrint: Ref D 5 .M55 2007
