Research in Federal Records: Some Assembly Required

Malissa Ruffner, JD, CG
Nov 21, 2017
2.6K views

About this webinar

Federal records offer genealogical gold with both direct references to our ancestors and rich contextual background information. But it can be daunting to explore record groups that are not readily available online. The wide array of tools includes paper finding aids, preliminary inventories, online indexes, web guides, and published articles, as well as the National Archives Catalog. Malissa will offer a framework and several case studies that highlight the integration of multiple research tools.

About the speaker

Malissa Ruffner, CG, holds degrees in law and library science. After working in a variety of fields, she heeded the call of genealogy in 2009, becoming a Board-Certified Genealogist® in 2014. She is t...
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Comments (1)

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  1. LT
    Legacy Family Tree
    8 years ago

    a lot of good information well presented!

    Very comprehensive. I wish I had known more about researching at NARA before going to NIGR. I was only able to get one record.

    A well organized and well presented instructional period! One of the best I have attended. Please have more webinars like this

    Awesome

    Came in late so will be re-watching at a later date..... LOTS of information !!!

    Complex material - it would be worth watching again. Well done.

    Excellent! Very well organized and well spoken. Her handout is a treasure!

    Excellent. I appreciated the careful stepping through the process. This really helped me understand how to phrase my research questions to take advantage of NARA's archival structure, and how to best use my own limited time and resources. I like the clean, undistracting look of the slides and the way Malissa smoothly transitioned through the steps and the topics. I plan to watch this one at least 2 more times because I know I will be using what I learned.

    Fantastic webinar n a very complicated set of archives.

    Fantastic! So much information! I will be watching this again... and again...

    Fantastic, incredible amount of useful information. I'm glad there was a such a complete handout, I will be re-reading it often.

    Great presentation! Well organized; covered a lot of material beautifully.

    Interesting and overwhelming for me because I am just learning about NARA.

    just wow

    Logical format. Exceptional detail.

    Malissa did a super job!

    Much appreciated, I hope to watch the webinar a second time. This is such an important topic, with a large activation energy to become productive.

    My brain is over flowing! Malissa did a great job. I will definitely need to watch this one again to take it all in.

    One of the best handouts and I've listened to many classes. The links were extremely helpful.

    Outstanding presentation. Will watch again to absorb it all.

    Really enjoyed it! Love the handouts that cover the webinars, there is never enough time to take all the notes I want to take.

    Thanks for the great info, now I am motivated to search NARA

    The webinar was just great; it's very interesting on learning the processes used to get productive research accomplished.

    There certainly is a lot of information to digest about Federal Records. I think I'll have to listen to this one again.

    This will be worth watching again to get most of what was presented.

    This will keep me busy for several months!!! I was fortunate to go there in 1981 and haven't been able to go back again.

    Very clear, well-presented.

    Very helpful - made me feel less intimidated about going to a NARA facility.

    Very informative on how the material at the archives are laid out. Will watch again.

    Very informative webinar. Searching Federal government records can be complicated, but with Malissa's handout and her excellent presentation I'm ready to give it a try. Thanks.

    Very well presented!

    Well done description of complicated and fascinating records.

    Wonderful presentation. Now do not feel quite so intimidated in starting my research at the National Archives.

    Wonderful webinar! I have a NARA office nearby, have been too afraid to go there, but now I will check it out. Thanks so much! :)

    Wow. Now I want to look into NARA records. It will be very interesting to see if my ancestors are there in some records. Thank you so much.

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Research in Federal Records: Some Assembly Required - Legacy Family Tree Webinars