I spent four hours on Wednesday at the library. I couldn't believe how time got away from me. I was tired of looking on the internet at genealogy sources and wanted to try something different. I decided to wander around the genealogy section just looking at what was available. I decided to look in the county section and was amazed at the different sources available there. Some sources obviously didn't yield much, just presenting references to other sources that weren't immediately available. However, I did find different books that had information or at least gave me ideas of where to look next for information. I found biographies of the county to be a good source of information if a relative could be located. I found several distant relatives that weren't directly related, but the biography included their ancestors which were the same as mine so that was a good reference. Also I found sources such as a county pictorial history book that actually contained several pictures of my grandparents when they were very young. I found high school records that contained information and a cemetery book that listed deaths until a certain year. I have found that dates are exceedingly important. If I don't have close to accurate dates, I waste a lot of time looking in periods where there will be no information.
One of the main problems I found with researching this way was the time involved because most of these books had poor indexes or a lack of indexes so it was a matter of going through the whole book to see if any references were made to relatives. As long as I had an approx. year to go by, I could reference the right books which helped speed things along. Another problem with using books was anything I wanted a copy of, I had to use the copy machine. That wasn't hard, just more time-consuming and I will have to scan what I copied if I want to use it in my project.
This process did give me some more ideas on other sources though instead of just looking at traditional sources online. Plus it also gave me some unusual tidbits that I found very useful.
One thing I have noticed about researching genealogy that I would like to know if others face this same problem is how easily I become sidetracked on one aspect of research and losing what time I have for the research. For example, I want to research my great grandmother so I look at her parents, but then I get caught up on looking at them and their parents and before I realize it, I know more about them than my original intended subject. To help myself focus and stay on track, I'm trying to put that earlier research into a future project to pursue when my original project is completed.
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You wrote: “I was tired of looking on the internet at genealogy sources and wanted to try something different. I decided to wander around the genealogy section just looking at what was available. I decided to look in the county section and was amazed at the different sources available there.”
ReplyDeleteGood for you!!! I think that if I do this class again, I might have specific tasks during class time one day to find research *without* the internet. Hmmm, now you’ve got me thinking about the nature of family history research again. The best sources of information are what? *Living family members*, right? But there’s a wealth of documentation about deceased members that is also important. Once the family member is gone, all we have to rely on is living family members’ memories, official documentation, and some of that mysterious “et cetera” that keeps cropping up.
You wrote: “One of the main problems I found with researching this way was the time involved because most of these books had poor indexes or a lack of indexes so it was a matter of going through the whole book to see if any references were made to relatives. As long as I had an approx. year to go by, I could reference the right books which helped speed things along. Another problem with using books was anything I wanted a copy of, I had to use the copy machine. That wasn't hard, just more time-consuming and I will have to scan what I copied if I want to use it in my project.”
I’m wondering here if *time* is the key element in this kind of research in general. There are types of research that are efficient and systematic. I’m thinking of scientific studies with set hypotheses and testing methods. Then there are ethnographic research methods, such as Fieldworking and family history, that require layers of activity and involvement, and *time*.
Seems like time is a theme that I could delve into more, too. Sure, there’s the fact that family *history* involves time, but the passage of time isn’t the only thread. There’s time in research, time in reflection, time being captured in a moment by various types of documentation, time with family members, and then I come back to the passage of time and its significance to those of us in the present. Now I’m getting all philosophical and losing my train of thought…