6 February 2026. Mark that on the calendar for GRIP Genealogy Institute registration!

Omigosh!! 6 February 2026 is less than a month away. That’s when registration opens for the 2026 summer GRIP Genealogy Institute courses. The virtual week is 22-26 June and the in-person week is 12-17 July.

I’m just a bit partial to the course Digging Deeper: Records, Tools, and Skills that runs during the June virtual week. I have been the coordinator of that course since the beginning of this institute. It has been updated, expanded, and the accompanying digital syllabus alone is amazing. That’s because the instructors that assist me with this course are experienced, knowledgeable, and friendly professionals. Amy E. K. Arner, CG®; Cyndi Ingle; Debbie Mieszala, CG®; and Cari Taplin, CG® do an amazing job in this course.

This may be your course! It covers 19th through 21st century US records, online resources, “hidden” records, analysis, and methodology. This course often serves as preparation for other GRIP courses. It is a separate, but complementary, course to the 2025 debut of BEYOND Digging Deeper: Sources, Methods, and Practices. If you answer yes to any of the following questions, this course is for you.

Are you past the beginning stages of researching your family history?
Have you researched online but know there is more elsewhere or that you have missed some resources?
Do you need a stronger foundation before taking advanced or specialized courses?
Are you not yet comfortable with in-depth evaluation of documents, deciding what to do next, and delving into less-commonly used collections?

When we have checked basic records and done online searches but still have missing details, we need more leads and to do a better job of analyzing records. We will dig deeper into a variety of records, some you may have never heard about, and where they are found. There will be hands-on and interactive activities, small group discussions, and full class interaction. There’s more to learn about the individual sessions of this course so check out these links: