Tuesday, January 06, 2009

Do History

A few days ago I posted my handout from my talk in Palm Springs. One of the links was for a website called Do History. This is a great website for genealogists that offers some helpful tutorials.

Do History, http://dohistory.org/, according to their website, shows you how to piece together the past from the fragments that have survived. To do this they use the case of Martha Ballard, a midwife whom historian Laurel Thatcher Ulrich wrote about in the book A Midwife's Tale.

At this website click on the link, On Your Own, and then click on History Toolkit. Here there are short essay on everything from using primary documents, stages of a historical research project, how to read 18th century writing to how to search deeds. Additionally, there are books and websites cited on how to conduct historical research. Some of the essays include forms to print out to assist you in your research.

The Archive of Primary Sources link has digital images of different types of primary sources. This is a great way to become more familiar with all kinds of documents that might help you with your family research. You can even try your hand at reading some of the documents including probate and other court cases.

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