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5/25/2000
Get
It Together
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by Liz Kelley Kerstens, CGRS
This
columns is posted on the Clooz.com Web site with
permission of
MyFamily.com. The
column was originally posted on the Ancestry.com
Web site.
Organizing for a
Research Trip
As I prepare for my trip to
Providence, RI, next week for the National Genealogical
Society’s annual conference, I am reminded that the
preparation phase of any trip can make or break the
outcome of that trip. I’m going to the conference to
vend and do demonstrations and to be part of a panel, so I
have unique preparation needs for each of these hats that
I will be wearing while there. For those that are going to
the conference with the goal of conducting local or
regional research, a different type of preparation should
take place in order to have a successful research outcome.
If you don’t know where to start, I’d like to
recommend two small books by Paula Stuart Warren, CGRS,
and James W. Warren.
Getting the Most Mileage From
Genealogical Research Trips,
3d ed. (St. Paul, Minn.: Warren Research & Publishing,
1998). 55 pp. Index. $9.
Making the Most of Your Research
Trip to Salt Lake City, 7th
ed. (St. Paul, Minn.: Warren Research & Publishing,
1998). 52 pp. Index. $9.50.
The first book, Getting the
Most Mileage From Genealogical Research Trips, is
broken into three sections: Plans and Preparations,
Working on the Road, and Final Words. Each chapter ends
with a checklist reminding you of items that you need to
accomplish at that point. Chapters 2 and 3 are my
particular favorites as they discuss the preparation
phase. Chapter 2, "Review What You Know; Decide Where
to Go," discusses ways to organize your information
so you know what you already have and can determine what
you need. They recommend writing a brief narrative about
the families you are going to work on, as well as
preparing a chronology for the families. After you’ve
determined what you need to look for, you need to do some
research on the areas you’d like to visit to see if the
facilities are appropriate for the type of research you
want to do. And finally, they encourage you to create a
research plan for the trip, to focus your efforts for the
location and the time available.
Chapter 3, "Work to Do
Before Your Trip," encourages you to learn more about
your ancestors and their geographic areas before you go on
the trip. You can do this by reading books about the area,
perusing genealogical journals (or doing a search on PERSI
at http://www.ancestry.com),
and conducting online searches of the various database
sites, including Ancestry.com
and FamilySearch.com.
You might also consider hiring a professional researcher
to help you with some of the more difficult aspects of
your research.
The remainder of the book focuses
on making travel preparations, actually traveling, and
efficiently researching while you’re onsite. You’re
also reminded to try to eat properly, exercise, and come
up for air occasionally (although these are particularly
hard if you’re hot on the trail of an elusive
ancestor!).
Making the Most of Your Research
Trip to Salt Lake City
naturally concentrates on the facilities available to you
while visiting that city. The book is broken into five
chapters: Salt Lake City Information, Salt Lake City
Restaurants, Family History Library Information, Hints for
Researchers, and Selected Reference List. This book is a
must-read for first-time visitors to Salt Lake City and
the Family History Library. The first two chapters are
indispensable information for travelers, giving
recommendations for appropriate clothing, names and
addresses of grocery facilities, and comments on various
restaurants within the metropolitan area. The third
chapter dissects the Family History Library minutely,
detailing the locations of reference desks, rest rooms,
drinking fountains, and of course discussing the various
catalogues available and how to find books and microforms
within the library. I wish I had read this before my first
trip to SLC!
The remainder of the book is
designed to help you prepare specifically for your
research trip. If this is a problem with you, I’d
recommend reading the first book discussed above, which
goes into much greater detail about preparation for a
research trip.
Both books are incredibly useful
for those making research trips, regardless of
destination. The books are available from Warren Research
and Publishing, 1869 Laurel Ave., St. Paul, MN 55104-5938.
As an aside, this is the last
column I will be writing on organizing tips. Next week I
will begin a new column, "GC Online," which will
focus on the computer and genealogy world and will allow
for more timely information to be passed.
Elizabeth Kelley Kerstens, CGRS,
is the managing editor of Genealogical Computing,
editor of the Board for Certification of Genealogists’
newsletter OnBoard, the creator of Clooz—the
electronic filing cabinet for genealogical records, and a
frequent contributor to Ancestry. She can be
reached via e-mail at liz@ancestordetective.com.
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