October is Family History Month, American Archives Month, National German Heritage Month, and many other awareness designations

Every day and every month I learn about some other event, designation, or awareness label in states, provinces, countries, and I can’t keep track of them all. The three in the title of this post are examples of some that apply to me and my fellow history/genealogy researchers. These and others apply to people all over the world. Where would we be without an understanding of history in general and specifically of our own families? Most of my friends are descendants of immigrants, as am I. I have friends who are descendants of the Native Americans who were here before my own ancestors.

What archives will you visit this month? What archives websites have you thoroughly investigated? What archives have you advocated for at state and federal levels? We need to interact with elected officials to be sure our archives and historical societies are fully funded so history can be preserved carefully. Think about one aspect of Hurricane Helene this past week. What historical materials have we lost along with people, homes, and government buildings?

For Family History Month, be sure to watch an online webinar and attend a presentation by a local genealogical society. Then take the handout or other material from that presentation and be sure to check the books and websites mentioned in it. Oh, the education we are able to get from that alone. Hundreds of webinars are available for free or low cost from all around the U.S. Hint: check Conference Keeper for links to tons of webinars and seminars. https://conferencekeeper.org/

I highly recommend Legacy Family Tree Webinars and my affiliate link for a membership is http://legacy.familytreewebinars.com/?aid=1739. For a year’s membership, we get access to 2,281 webinars and 8,947 pages of syllabus material. Most webinars are free when first presented and then for a week afterward, even without a membership. The syllabus material is only available to members. Well worth it as several new ones are offered each week.

German Heritage fits into the other two categories as far as my tips. It’s all a continuing education sequence. We never give up, never say we are finished, nor do we negate any clues we get unless thorough research proves the clues as wrong.

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