I am giving a presentation next week to the The North Hills Genealogists (of Pittsburgh) and the students of the Genealogical Research Institute of Pittsburgh on "Preparing for a Research Trip to Washington D.C." The handout has quite a few links in it and they are easier to click on than retype, so I decided to post them here. The benefit is that although many of you will not be at GRIP to hear the presentation, you can still use the advice and links.
Researching in Washington D.C.
Preparing for your research trip:
1. Check to see what records are available online, and
what is available only in the repositories.
2. Use the online catalogs to identify the books and
records relevant to your research.
3. Create a research plan of records to search. This
will help make your research time more efficient.
National Archives
Think
of ways that your ancestors may have interacted with the federal government so
you will know what types of records you want
to research. Did they serve in the military? Did they buy federal land or apply
for a homestead? Did they immigrate to the U.S.? Did they work for the
post office or another federal agency?
The
most commonly used records for genealogists are military service and pension
records, and federal land records. The census, passenger lists and
naturalization records have been digitized and are available online.
Land: Search the BLM database for
ancestors who obtained federal land http://www.glorecords.blm.gov/
Military: Search indexes at
FamilySearch, Ancestry and/or Fold3.com for ancestors who served in wars. See links to military indexes below.
Other records: See links to research
guidance by topic at http://www.archives.gov/research/genealogy/topics/
Online
Catalog (OPA) http://www.archives.gov/research/search/
Downloadable
PDF publications http://www.archives.gov/publications/ref-info-papers/index.html
NARA resources for
genealogists http://www.archives.gov/research/genealogy/
Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) Library
The
books are cataloged by “call words” rather than a numerical cataloging system.
Search the online catalog by subject, geographic location, or family surname. HINT:
Create a research plan, but also go and “sit” in front the books for the area
you are researching and browse all the titles available.
Online Catalog http://www.dar.org/library/onlinlib.cfm
Genealogical Research System http://services.dar.org/public/dar_research/search/?tab_id=0
In the Genealogical Research System (GRS) you can search for
Revolutionary War patriots and their descendants, as well as the Genealogical
Records Committee volumes (family bibles, cemetery transcriptions, etc.
collected by DAR members).
Library of Congress
There are wonderful resources in the Library of
Congress and you may want to visit the following reading rooms: Local History
and Genealogy, Newspapers and Periodicals, and Geography and Maps.
Online
Catalog http://catalog.loc.gov/
Research
and Reference Services http://www.loc.gov/rr/
Military Indexes on FamilySearch.org
Pension Indexes
Service Record Indexes
Regular Army Registers of Enlistment
United States,
Registers of Enlistments in the U.S. Army, 1798-1914
National
Park Service
Military
Indexes on Ancestry.com
National
Park Service
Military
Indexes on Ancestry.com
You have created a very good paper that everyone should use as a guide to starting their research in Washington. It will take some time to fully check each of these areas but you have identified all of the various doors they need to open. One addition would be at the Library of Congress. Once they have a Reader Card, they can go online to request books be pulled in advance of their visit. This way the books are waiting for them when they arrive or you know in advance that the book is no longer available as they e-mail you when they find the book.
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