NGS Monthly Archive

28 Mar 2023

City Directories in Genealogy Research

City directories are an excellent resource for genealogy research, providing valuable information about our ancestors’ lives and movements. In this article, we’ll take a closer look at what city directories are, how they can be used in
28 Mar 2023

Attending a Conference: Reflections, Tips, and Advice for First-Time Attendees and Early-Career Professionals

I recently had the opportunity to attend RootsTech 2023 in Salt Lake City, Utah. Reflecting on my experience, I wrote this article to guide future first-time conference attendees and early-career professional genealogists. While I had participated in
31 Jan 2023

Decoding the Numbers: Genealogical Numbering Systems

If you have read a genealogy publication or explored popular family tree software, you have likely seen numbers assigned to individuals in family trees. What do these numbers mean? Why are there so many different numbering systems?
31 Jan 2023

Not Everything is Online: How to Research in Archives

As more documents and records are digitized, genealogists often stick to the online, easy-to-access record sets. However, even in the age of digital information, not everything we need or want as genealogists is digitized. So, let’s get
12 Dec 2022

Finding Relatives Residing Elsewhere: A Brief Guide to Institutions

Like me, you may have a great-grandparent who seemingly went “missing” from records, family stories about a long-departed relative’s battle with mental illness, or an adopted ancestor. Or, like an increasing number of historians and genealogists across
19 Oct 2022

Exceptional Digital Projects to Aid Black American Research

There are many missing pieces in American ethnic studies for people of color. Historians, librarians, and teachers are helping to fill in the gaps by curating materials and writing textual history that can be digitized for larger
19 Oct 2022

Genealogy Records Roundup – October 2022

October is Family History Month and I hope you are celebrating by sharing your genealogy work and resources with family and friends. NGS has ideas and images available for you and for sharing, especially with your local
31 Aug 2022

New Irish Resources: The Beyond 2022 Project

Researching Irish ancestors has often been described as difficult, and for many reasons. The reason most discouraging to American researchers, excited to discover their ancestors who flooded into this country in the nineteenth century, is that the
13 Feb 2015

Eight Tips for Deconstructing an NGSQ Case Study

Find the research question. Each NGSQ case study begins with a distinct research question. The question may be one of identity, relationship, or situation. The title of the case study often sheds light on what question is
12 Feb 2015

What Is an NGSQ Case Study?

Each issue of the National Genealogical Society Quarterly (NGSQ) includes several case studies—the kinds of articles that address specific research questions. Case studies differ significantly from the lineages, pedigrees, and genealogies that frequently appear in well-respected genealogical journals. Some readers