Organizing Your Genealogical Files

Overwhelmed with too many paper documents and digital files? Learn to organize these so that you'll quickly find just the one you need.

Genealogy Guys Learn presents Front Page News and Beyond: Finding Archived Newspapers, a genealogical video about using newspapers in your genealogical research. The stories of our ancestors’ lives, from birth to death and everything in between, can be found in the pages of archived newspapers. Learn whether those stories are already somewhere online or on microform in a library. This webinar was first released 3 September 2019 on the Genealogy Guys Learn website.

Our ancestors were each surrounded by family, associates, and neighbors. By researching them, we discover additional records pointing to our own ancestors. Your Ancestor’s FAN Club shows you how to perform cluster research for your ancestors and their families, associates, and neighbors. This webinar was first released 21 December 2020 on the Genealogy Guys Learn website.

A research trip, no matter whether it’s to the local library or traveling to a place where your ancestors lived, requires advance planning. Setting your goals, defining where you will go, and organizing yourself are keys to your research success. Drew Smith provides excellent methodologies to help ensure you make the most of your trip. This webinar was first released 30 November 2022 on the Genealogy Guys Learn website.

Archives and special collections may contain unique material about your ancestors. Learn to make the best use of what they offer online and in person. Drew Smith, an academic librarian emeritus, provides an expert overview of Archives and Special Collections: An Introduction in this video. This webinar was first released 31 October 2023 on the Genealogy Guys Learn website.

Everyone has questions about DNA testing. Avoid wasting time and money by learning how DNA is inherited, which type of DNA test to take, and exactly what you can expect to get as a result. Our video, Before You Test: DNA Basics You Need to Know, will introduce concepts and terminology, help you understand what DNA can and cannot help you do, and set your expectations of tests and results. This webinar was first released 29 December 2019 on the Genealogy Guys Learn website.

Genealogists can work together using the FamilySearch Family Tree, WikiTree, and Geni. Learn the differences among them and the best practices for each.

Before beginning their own research, good researchers seek out the research already done by others. Find out how to do an exhaustive search for books, periodicals, and other published or unpublished printed research material that may save you time in your own research.

It is frustrating to search for people in digitized census records and not to find them, even when you just know they were there at the time. Drew Smith understands and shares his strategies for locating the “missing” people in this video, Not In the Census? Try Again! Learn new techniques to help ensure success.