Researching your family history, which used to require trips to state libraries and obscure archives, has become much easier in the digital age. The New York Times recently highlighted several different resources that can be used to dig into our origins. Several popular sites on the internet – such as Ancestry.com, MyHeritage, and 23andMe – are helpful starting points for identifying our ancestors and genetic makeup, however in this blog we’ll outline some different resources that can be used to gain a more nuanced understanding of our ancestry, including trying to understand what our ancestors daily lives may have been like.
Once you know who your relatives were and where they lived, archived newspapers are a great potential source of more detailed information. For instance, Newspapers.com – which offers a free trial version – has archive of newspapers (including defunct papers) from across the country dating back to the 1700s. The Library of Congress has an extensive archive of newspapers – including African American, Cherokee and Mexican-American sources – to add to their exhaustive collection of pictures, music, videos and maps documenting America’s history.
If you know members of your family were immigrants or served in the military, the National Archives contains further resources for understanding your family’s history. The National Archives stores records of immigration, military service, and census data, which includes vital statistics about our ancestors, such as place of birth and occupation. It should be noted that in order to obtain military service records you must submit a Freedom of Information Act request, which you can learn more about by reading our blog entry.
The ever-expanding arsenal of online tools such as these make it easier than ever before to create a narrative of your family from historical records.