Discovering Your Roots: An Introduction to Genealogy [repost]

Few experiences in life are as enriching and rewarding as researching your family history. To trace your ancestral roots is to take part in an exciting detective story; one that asks you to rebuild the past from oral tradition, written records, and artifacts, such as family photographs.

Genealogy, however, is about more than just digging up the past. It’s a journey of self-discovery that can teach you as much about yourself as about those who came before you. After all, your ancestors’ story is your story as well. But most important: It’s a way for you to uncover and write one of the most important stories you could ever tell—one that’s unique to your individual life; one that no one else can tell; and one that you can pass down to future generations.

But there’s an obstacle that holds many of us back from unearthing our family history: uncertainty about how to go about it.

Which online resources and databases should you use—or trust?
How do you make your way through the tangles of public records out there?
How do you bring separate facts and events together into a complete story you can share with future generations?

With Discovering Your Roots: An Introduction ­­to Genealogy, you’ll learn the same skills and methodologies the experts use to solve genealogical mysteries and create compelling nonfiction narratives about the past. In 15 engaging lectures, genealogist, writer, and lecturer John Philip Colletta shows you how to uncover information from the long-forgotten past in the most effective ways possible.

Maybe you’re working on a family tree. Maybe you’re writing a personal memoir. Maybe you’re just curious about how people rebuild history. Whatever your reasons, this lecture series is your chance to plunge into the past and start finding the life-changing insights about where you come from.

Learn the Tools of the Trade

“Genealogical inquiry is a progression from the known to the unknown,” remarks Dr. Colletta. “You always start with a few known facts that allow you to access the sources that will yield new facts. Then those new facts allow you to access other sources for more facts. And so on, further and further back in time.”

To help you navigate the winding road into your family’s past, Discovering Your Roots provides you with smart and savvy ways to find—and use—the most helpful online and print resources available today. These include the following:

Interviews with living relatives, who can often provide you with the names and events that will serve as the foundation for future research
U.S. population censuses, the single most important historical records for constructing American lineage
The Periodical Source Index (PERSI), an online index of 11,000 genealogy and local history periodicals from the mid-1800s to today
The National Archives and Records Administration, which holds millions of records documenting your ancestors’ dealings with U.S. government agencies
Passenger arrival records, which can help you recreate an ancestor’s voyage to America
Court records, including dockets, minutes, case files, and probate packets

You’ll also learn a practicing genealogist’s tools of the trade for working with these and other sources, as well as countless tips for making your own research more useful. You’ll discover

how to make your interview subjects more engaged and informative;
how to judge the reliability and veracity of the information you uncover; and
how to collect and organize your findings in family group sheets and pedigree charts.

lectures:

1 Interviewing Kin and Mining Home Sources
2 Genealogy Online—Gems and Junk
3 The Library—Shelves Full of Family History
4 Military Service and Homestead Records
5 How to Build Historical Context
6 Your Ancestors in Ship Passenger Lists
7 Your Ancestors in Naturalization Records
8 The Genealogical Proof Standard
9 Your Ancestors in the County Courthouse
10 Your Ancestors in State Records
11 How to Write Biography
12 Dos and Don’ts of Writing History
13 Searching in Your Ancestors’ Backyards
14 Assembling an Account of Your Discoveries
15 Extending Your Family Tree Overseas

Particle Physics for Non-Physicists: A Tour of the Microcosmos

Passions: Philosophy and the Intelligence of Emotions

Physics and Our Universe: How It All Works

Pompeii: Daily Life in an Ancient Roman City

Popes and the Papacy: A History

Power over People: Classical and Modern Political Theory

Practical Philosophy: The Greco-Roman Moralists

Practicing Mindfulness: An Introduction to Meditation

Prove It: The Art of Mathematical Argument

Quantum Mechanics: The Physics of the Microscopic World

Queen of the Sciences: A History of Mathematics

Understanding Complexity

Stress and Your Body

Superstring Theory: The DNA of Reality

Roots of Human Behavior

Science of Self

Science Wars - What Scientists Know and How They Know It

Scientific Secrets for Self-Control