As president of The Villages Genealogical Society, Henry Stish felt he had a good grasp on resources available for researching family history and tracking down archives. But after listening to a presentation by The Archive Lady, Stish said even he learned a few new things.
Stish, of the Village of Pennecamp, said he is excited to apply the research tips he learned from the presentation by Melissa Barker titled “That’s in the Archives! Digging Deeper in the Archived Records” at the club’s Aug. 26 meeting.
The opportunity to hear from experts and connect with other amateur genealogists is why he joined The Villages Genealogical Society four years ago, he said.
“I’ve always had a love of history and I’ve picked at genealogy most of my adult life, but I never really got the chance to dive in, so when I got here it was one of the first things I wanted to try,” Stish said. “For me, it’s not just about filling out these big dusty pedigree charts building an enormous family tree. It’s uncovering the stories of your family’s past and the reasons they made the choices they did.”
Barker, a certified archives manager and public historian at the Tennessee Archives and Museum who has 36 years of research experience, gave information on how to explore local and state archives to find records.
Barker began the presentation with the basics, emphasizing records can be found at public libraries, state archives, university or college libraries or archives, church archives, museums and other places.
“Spend some time talking to local historians, archivists, librarians, museum curators or anyone who oversees records collections about what records they have available that are not online,” Barker said. “They will know where the records are.”
An archive is any organization that collects the records of individuals, families and other organizations, she said.
“We constantly need to teach ourselves where the records are and what types of archives are out there,” she said. “The building doesn’t need to have the word ‘archive’ on it. If it has records and they are making it available to researchers, that is an archive. Yes there’s tons of information online, but these facilities are everywhere.”
The presentation helped Stish realize records are accessible other ways than online.
“It stood out when she said only about 5% of archive materials are on the internet,” Stish said. “When we search for stuff, the go-to is usually Ancestry.com or MyHeritage.com and you can find some amazing documents. But, when you realize it’s only 5% of what’s available, there’s some great discoveries waiting to be made. We just have to figure out how to do that. That’s what the session was about.”
Barker said to start local by trying to narrow down the area where your ancestor lived. To learn about a certain culture or how people lived in a particular area, Barker pointed to regional archives like the Archives of Appalachia or the National Archives Southeast Region.
“These are archives that many genealogists don’t know are there and contain records for a particular region,” she said. “The regional archives highlight a particular culture in that region. It may not include specific records naming your specific ancestor, but if you’re like me and want to know everything there is to know about your ancestry — how they lived, where they lived and what it was like to live where they lived during the time they lived there — these are fantastic archives to learn something like that.”
Barker suggested people look through manuscript collections, school records at public universities and election records to dig even deeper.
“I consider manuscript records the number one underutilized records collection by genealogy researchers,” she said. “I work with genealogy researchers on a daily basis and many of them have never heard of these records collections and don’t know how to navigate them. Any collection of records that has some organization to it, from family records to business records and church records.”
Barker handed out a summary of the information she shared during the hour-and-a-half presentation.
The Villages Genealogical Society was founded in 1993 and now has more than 700 members. It is part of the Florida State Genealogical Society and the National Genealogical Society.
Along with monthly general meetings, the club holds quarterly webinars and has 18 special interest groups that cover topics from DNA to how to find elusive records.
“We are the second-largest regional genealogical society in the country,” he said. “Between the 700 members who meet face-to-face and the 18 special interest groups, we’re one of the most active genealogical societies in the entire country. Between September and May, almost every day there’s something going on.”
For more information about The Villages Genealogical Society or to view the club’s monthly newsletter, visit vgsfl.org.
“If you’re just starting out or just getting interested, this is probably one of the best ways to get involved with genealogy research,” Stish said. “The stories about the ‘whys’ of family tradition need to be passed down to the next generation. The good news is, it’s not too late to uncover those mysteries. There’s still ways to find them and it’s amazing what you can learn after all the years go by.”
Staff writer Brea Jones can be reached at 352-753-1119, ext. 5414, or brea.jones@thevillagesmedia.com.
