What will we learn?

The main source types used by genealogists introduced in Week 3 include civil, religious and census records.

We will focus on the methodologies of how to use these records to trace families and individuals as well give a sense of the typical types of data these records usually contain.

We will also have a brief tour of an archive’s church and military records to give a sense of what you might find in physical archives as contrasted to online. There will be an exploration of the major repositories of these records and how to use them including online resources. While some country specific sources will be detailed in this week, overall the focus is as broad as possible.

In this week we will cover:

1. The methodologies of using records to glean family information and populate a tree.
2. The importance of archives, libraries and family/history societies to genealogists
3. An overview of different types of records and where to find them
   A. Civil records
   B. Religious records
   C. Census records
   D. Military records

Study Groups

Choose the study group tab at the top of any step to access your study group for this course.

Your study group is a place to get to know your fellow learners a bit better, to support and encourage each other, and to discuss what you’re learning in depth with the same set of people during the course.

It’s also a place for collaboration. You can visit this group whenever you like, but for most weeks we will ask you to complete some research or searching tasks or to discuss an idea specifically within your study group. This is strictly optional for this course but doing the tasks and/or collaborating is a great way to really solidify your learning. So why not take this opportunity to say hello?