In the just-published, free Genealogy Gems Podcast episode 190, hear from a genealogist who helped lay to rest a 30-year old missing-person’s case–and so much more.
Don’t you love it when everyday heroes help the experts solve baffling mysteries? I especially love it when that hero is a genealogist who wields research skills with deftness, creativity and bulldog tenacity. Has Lisa Louise Cooke got a story for us!
Scott Fisher, Extreme Genes
In the new Genealogy Gems Podcast episode 190, Lisa interviews Extreme Genes radio host Scott Fisher about his now-famous role in helping to solve a 30-year old missing persons case. He’s told this story to People, FoxNews and CBS.com, but here Lisa gets Scott to really lay out the details of how he did it for fellow researchers.
There’s more to love in Genealogy Gems Podcast episode 190, such as:
Lisa advises a listener on a pesky Gmail problem;
A whirlwind world tour of new genealogy records online;
Searching out military service details with Google Books;
One RootsTech attendee’s Google search success story
the new Genealogy Gems Book Club title, a brand-new, much-anticipated second novel by a breakout British novelist.
Not sure what a podcast is or how to listen? Click here to learn more about these “online radio shows” that you can take with you on your mobile device. Listen while you commute, exercise, do your household chores or garden.
Originally designed specifically for the iPad in 2010, the free Flipboard app has moved onto all the major mobile platforms. And this cool new technology has just gotten better with a big dose of genealogy!
I invite you to explore the newly released free Flipboard magazine RootsTech 2014: Where Genealogy and Technology Converge.
Genealogy Gems has published the magazine in conjunction with the RootsTech program team in a continuing effort to help family historians embrace new technologies and present RootsTech attendees with the possibilities.
Consider what’s been happening in the mobile space this last year:
Smartphone usage in the U.S. increased by 50 percent (Kleiner Perkins)
The number of emails being opened on mobile increased by 330 percent (Litmus)
Tablet usage doubled in the U.S. (Pew Research Center)
The bottom line: More than ever folks are accessing websites, videos, podcasts, blogs and other online information on their mobile devices. That’s where the free Flipboard app comes in.
The free Flipboard app is a social-network and online aggregator of web content and RSS channels for Android, Blackberry 10, iOS, Windows 8, and Windows Phone 8. Content is presented in a captivating magazine format allowing users to “flip” through it with a simple swipe of the finger.
As a genealogy new media content creator and publisher, we’re excited to introduce a creative use of this emerging technology to the genealogy industry. RootsTech 2014: Where Genealogy and Technology Converge is a free magazine available at http://tinyurl.com/RootsTech2014. The magazine pulls together great web content from RootsTech speakers, exhibitors, and official bloggers in one beautiful and convenient place.
This magazine has presented an opportunity to crowd-source the know-how and talent of all of those who work to make RootsTech a success. The magazine offers an exciting look at the RootsTech experience the innovative technologies emerging in the genealogy industry, and a new vehicle for everyone in the RootsTech community to converge! The pages go beyond text and images by also delivering video and audio!
Stay tuned to the Genealogy Gems Blog and Podcast for Lisa’s upcoming exclusive interview with the folks at Flipboard!
Digitizing Colonial Genealogy
If you’ve got British colonial roots in North America, you know how tough it can be to learn more about your family during that time. That’s why I was excited to read a recent article in the Harvard Gazette. http://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2013/11/a-colonial-goldmine/
According to the article, plans are afoot to digitize and make available millions of British colonial documents. And yet, there are still that many colonial-era documents sitting largely untouched in public and private archives, far from the reach of the everyday genealogist.
The Gazette reports not one but two major digitizing projects underway relating to British colonial documents in the U.S. Harvard University is leading the first project, which is already funded and underway. It will capture around 30 million pages of 17th- and 18th-century material from more than 1600 manuscript collections at 12 different Harvard repositories.
As if that’s not good enough news, a much larger project is in the works, too. A larger-scale Colonial Archives of North America has plans to digitally assemble pre-Revolutionary War material from Harvard and several historical societies, archives and Libraries in New England, New York and beyond (including Montreal). I was pleased to see that records relating to businesses, poverty, public health and indigent care will form part of the anticipated collection. These kinds of documents talk about everyday folks and their living conditions; just what we want for our colonial genealogy. This second project is not funded yet but researchers are confident it will be.
Meanwhile, check out online resources like these for colonial documents:
National Archives Digitizing Projects: Colonial, WWII, Jewish and More
And there’s another digitizing project that also includes Colonial records Over $2 million in grants has been awarded by the National Archives (U.S.) to digitize important historical documents. Here’s how the awards break down:
$1.1 million to “nine publishing projects from the U.S. Colonial and Early National Period, including the papers of Benjamin Franklin, George Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, Dolly Madison, and John Jay. Projects to record the Documentary History of the Ratification of the U.S. Constitution and the Documentary History of the First Federal Congress also received funding”
Nearly $700,000 to “State and National Archives Partnership (SNAP) grants to enable 28 state historical records advisory boards to carry out their mission to support archival education and strengthen the nation’s archival network;”
Over $500,000 to 7 projects to “digitize World War II Oral History files; the papers of Leo Szilard, the nuclear physicist; the papers of General Oliver Otis Howard, Civil War general, Commissioner of the Freedman’s Bureau, and third president of Howard University; Historical Collective Bargaining Agreements from the 1880s through the 1980s; the Center for Jewish History’s American Soviet Jewry Movement collections; Early Connecticut manuscripts; and 19th century trademark files in the California Archives, including the original trademarks and specimens from Levi Strauss & Co. jeans, 19th century medicines and tonics, and the original trademark registered to Anheuser Busch for its Budweiser lager.”
As you can see, there’s a lot in there to appeal to family historians. Maybe not so much the Levi Strauss and Budweiser artifacts, but I could see many of us being interested in the World War II oral history files; the papers of the Freedman’s Bureau Commissioner; the Center for Jewish History’s files; those early Connecticut manuscripts and more.
The National Archives’ press release doesn’t say where these digitized files will end up. But I’m guessing at least some will eventually be made available on Founders Online, an award-winning database on the papers of “America’s Founders.” http://founders.archives.gov/
Explore Deep Ancestry
If you’ve had your DNA tested, you may have learned that you descend that you descend from Vikings. But wondered who exactly the Vikings were. There’s a cool website about ancient civilizations called http://www.TheAncientWeb.com and it looks like a fun and easy way to get up to speed on history.
As the title hints, this site is all about deep roots. It covers ancient societies in all parts of the world: North and South America, Europe, the Near East, Africa, Asia and Oceania. You’ll find history and images of artifacts on peoples ranging from Arabians to Vikings!
This is a great interactive tool for brushing up on ancient history. Check it out with your kids or grandkids who are exploring these topics in school.
But this is also a helpful resource if you’re looking to learn more about your “deep ancestry” as identified by DNA tests. You may never know if you descend from a famous (or infamous) warlord, ruler or explorer. But genetic tests are becoming more specific about deep geographic roots. So maybe it’s worth checking out a little Viking warrior fashion or learn about the ancient empire of the Mandingo on this site!
MAILBOX:
Jean wrote in response to Premium Episode 104 and the story of the cemetery in Philadelphia. She send me a link to the Hidden San Diego website that tells a similar story that occurred there in California : http://www.hiddensandiego.net/pioneer-park.php
Learn more about Calvary Cemetery, San Diego, CA (now a part of Calvary Pioneer Memorial Park, aka Pioneer Park; aka Catholic Cemetery, aka Mission Hills Cemetery, aka Old Catholic Cemetery) 1501 Washington Place, San Diego, CA 92103
She says: “ the San Diego story does not seem to indicate how this burial ground was changed into a park, but only the headstones were removed, so perhaps that is part of the rationale. Sadly, the removal of the headstones did in many where to buy medication cases destroy the death records of those buried there. Amazing.”
This was a Catholic cemetery, all the headstones were removed, but the bodies are still interred there. In the story you told about the Philadelphia cemetery, a University had the land condemned or “rezoned,” and the bodies transferred to a mass grave, so they could build a parking lot.
I’m just remembering your great story about the discovery of the grave and body of King Henry (and I think what Jean is referring to was my interview in Premium episode 97 with Dr. Turi King about the the discover of the body of King Richard the III.) And Jean says “Wasn’t that beneath a “carpark” in Great Britain? History does repeat itself!”
And Jean is absolutely right. And although parks are nice as in the case of San Diego, I don’t think the historical damage done is any different whether it’s a park or a parking lot. Gravestones are so critical when they were erected prior to official records being taken.
I’ll be down in San Diego giving a seminar for the San Diego Genealogical Society http://www.casdgs.org/
Ricky has a question about computer filing: “I’m trying to reorganize my computer files. My question is how would you name a Census image that you download (save) from the web (Ancestry, FamilySearch, etc)?? I can’t remember now if I’ve heard you tell this during one of your Podcasts (GG, FTM or the Made Easy one).
I want to organize my files and then enter everything into RootsMagic. There I’ll source it correctly, I just want the best way (or a better way) to save my Census image files. My current method in which the file name contains an ancestors name can be confusing when families live near one another and there are multiple families on the same page.”
Lisa’s Answer Suggestions:
1) No matter what you do, just be consistent
2) I like to think of my naming conventions as hierachy: most important info to least import. For example a census image downloaded from Ancestry would be:
BURKETT-1910-San_Francisco-Census-Ancestry.jpg
I put the surname in caps to make them easy to browse. If you use my hard drive organization system that I show in the Premium videos, you could do away with “Census” and even the surname if you wanted because those elements of the file name are addressed in the folders. However, if you don’t mind the longer file names, it’s nice to still include those keywords because often files are shared and put in places (such as your database) that are outside of those folders.
3) If you want to take the time to enter additional meta data in the file you could certainly do that in the files “Properties.”
4) I save multiple copies when there are multiple families on one page. It doesn’t happen that often, and with my hard drive filing system each family has their own “Census” folder so they need their own dedicated image of that census.
5) Create a naming convention that works for you, easy to remember, and containing the information that is important to you.
GEM: Digital Archives
DPLA
I’ve been talking lately on the Genealogy Gems blog at my website about digital archives:
Now the Library of Congress has posted a 31-minute webcast that features the DPLA content director, Emily Gore. She not only demonstrates some great examples of what you can find in the public portal of the DPLA, but also discusses the potential for gathering even more materials (she gives an example using local sources.) It’s a great introduction to the site, and Gore answers some questions from the audience that seem to be on a lot of people’s minds.
We hear a lot about digital archives and libraries these days. They really are a boon to genealogists—if we know where to find them online, what they offer and how to use them.
The point of a digital archive or library is to take valuable materials that are usually buried in manuscript collections or university libraries and make them available at the click of a mouse to a much wider audience. At some sites, you’ll find digitized images of original records: government documents, photographs, reference and history books and much more. Other sites that describe themselves as digital archives at least put extended descriptions of archival material online, so you can keyword search materials like “Montana prison records.”
Some digital archives are better-known, national or international sources of digital content, like the DPLA (Digital Public Library of America) http://dp.la/
But did you know that a lot of smaller digital archives and libraries provide regional or statewide or provincial content? Often it’s just the kind of material a family historian is looking for. Here are a couple of examples within the U.S.
Virginia was a colonial gateway, a place where a lot of families with deep American roots began their lives in the New World. Just listen to the kinds of materials you can find in the Digital Collections of the The Library of Virginia http://www.lva.virginia.gov/public/using_collections.asp: newspapers, photographs, maps, Civil War and War of 1812 documents, rare books, personal histories (including narratives of former slaves), biographical sketches, the cohabitation register which was really the legal marriage register for emancipated slaves, records from counties that have suffered a lot of record loss, an index to chancery court records and even a collection of legislative petitions. These last two, the chancery court and legislative petitions, are a fantastic thing to find online and text-searchable. Often court records are not indexed at all, are poorly or partly indexed, and aren’t online. Looking for more like this? Check out Documenting the American South, another digital archive packed with books, diaries, letters, oral histories and more at http://docsouth.unc.edu/.
If you’re searching for family on the other side of the U.S., check out the Northwest Digital Archives http://nwda.orbiscascade.org/index.shtml : This is a gateway to archival and manuscript collections in Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Alask and Washington. Some of the materials they point to are available in image form online. For others, you’ll just learn a description of what resources are available, what’s in them, and where they are. That’s the case for those Montana prison records. The Northwest Digital Archives describes this collection—over 100 years’ worth of records!—at the Montana Historical Society Research Center. You’ll find other gems like a homesteader’s description of growing up in South Dakota and a book on Jews in the Northwest.
HathiTrust Digital Library
HathiTrust Digital Library is an enormous pool of digital content: about 10.6 million volumes with about 3.7 billion pages. About a third of this content can be freely accessed by the public. A third may not sound like much, but a third of 3.7 billion pages is still a lot!
So what genealogy material do they have? You’ll find U.S. county and other local histories and about a half million government documents (state and federal) like military records and railroad commission and other reports. Many of these have lists of names you can full-text search. There are also unpublished dissertations and theses, which can be great sources for local history.
Here’s another plus. Anyone who’s a member of a participating library (or who creates a free “friend” account http://www.itcs.umich.edu/itcsdocs/s4316/ ) can create their own collections of digital content within the site. Then you can full-text search within just that material and/or make your collection public so others can search it, too. On the collections page, if you enter “Genealogy” you’ll find several collections created by different users ranging from really small to over 1000 volumes. There are also history collections worth browsing, like Records of the American Colonies. http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/mb?a=listis;c=855228657
HathiTrust has a mobile web site too. The current interface is limited: you can’t do full-text searches or browse collections. But you can still find and use great materials. I entered “Lackawanna Pennsylvania” as a search term on the mobile site and within seconds I had a 1897 county history on my iPad–no membership required.
Elevenses with Lisa LIVE show exclusively for Premium Members. These 5 search hacks are going to move you into the category of genealogy search ninja! Premium Members can join me for the live show and join in the chat. Or watch the video replay afterward at your convenience.
1. Quickly find free stuff on the big genealogy websites
You probably have a subscription to one or more of the big genealogy websites like Ancestry.com, FamilySearch.org, Findmypast.com or Fold3.com. The fastest way to find out what’s new at these websites is to visit these specific pages, and bookmark them on your web browser.
Click “Last Updated” to sort all the collections starting with the most recently updated. Use the filters to narrow down to only the types of collections you’re interested in (record type, location date or any combination.)
Bookmark webpages on your web browser bar:
Right-click on the browser bar and select Add Folder.
Name the folder something like Gen Sites.
Navigate to the first website.
In the browser bar, click the icon and URL.
Drag and drop it on to a blank area of the browser bar.
Continue to go to websites and add them to the folder.
Right-click on any item in the folder or on the browser bookmark bar you want to delete or rename. (It can be helpful to shorten the site names.)
When you want to check a site, simply click the folder and click the website.
Ancestry’s Recently Added and Updated Collections on Ancestry page does a nice job of differentiating between New and Update. Since collections may be regularly updated, it’s nice to spot the ones that are brand new.
The dropdown menu at the top of the page is set to United States by default. However, you can use it to view the new content for other countries as well.
Findmypast is primarily focused on records from the United Kingdom, although they do have some records from other countries including the United States. While they do have a “What’s New?” page, it’s not a list directly from their catalog. Instead, it’s a compilation of their weekly Friday blog post on new and updated records starting with the most recently published. This means you’d have to click through and read each post. Here’s a search hack to work around this.
Go to Google.com.
Type in the keyword(s) for what you want, followed by a space.
On the results page, click Tools. A filter menu will pop up. Click the Any Time drop-down and select the desired timeframe such as the past month or past year, or a custom range of 2020 through 2023.
Press Enter on your keyboard and your results will narrow down only to matching results from that timeframe.
This website, owned by Ancestry, has a primary focus on military records, although you will find other records as well.
You can find the most recent content additions by going to the search page and selecting a country and other descriptions of types of records that interest you. Then on the results page, click the Sort: Relevance button and select Sort: Newest First. You can narrow the list down further by clicking the Any Time button and selecting increments up to the last year.
2. How to Search a Specific Website
Use site search to dig into websites:
that don’t have a search feature,
that have a search feature that’s not great,
or to double-check that you found everything at that site.
Essentially, you can use Google search as a custom search engine for a specific website.
For example, USGenWeb is a free genealogy website that has been around for a long time and has a vast number of pages and content. There isn’t a search box on the home page, but you can click Search & Site Map in the menu. However, you’ll notice that their search engine is powered by a third party called FreeFind which has been around since 1998. Because it’s free and a third party, the search field is definitely not secure. Since that’s the case, you might as well use the largest and most powerful search engine in the world, Google, to search to run your search instead. Google’s site search is the way to do that.
A note about websites like USGenWeb: Make sure that you are searching the correct website.
Notice the URL for the USGenWeb website:https://usgenweb.org/index.html. Click the desired state on the map on the home page. Now, look at the URL again.
Notice that it’s actually a different website. Each state has the two-letter state abbreviation at the beginning of the URL. Use the state address when conducting a site search.
Example Search: If I wanted to find all mentions of a surname in the state, my site search would look like this:
Hulse site:http://ingenweb.org/
You can use the Google search operators listed in my book The Genealogist’s Google Toolbox to be even more specific about what you want to find.
3. How to Search Websites from within RootsMagic
As genealogists, we spend a lot of time in our genealogy software programs. The one I use, and it’s one of the most popular, is RootsMagic. So, it would be really convenient to be able to run searches at genealogy websites where I have a subscription, or in search engines like Google which will scour the entire internet. Well, you can so let me show you how to do that in RootsMagic.
Select the individual you want to research.
Click SEARCH in the menu.
Click the WebSearch
Edit the person as needed.
To select which websites to search, click the Provider
Check the box “show results in external web browser” for more flexibility and to get the URL for Web Tags (which you can add on the Person profile page.)
The main part of the WebSearch screen is a web browser window that displays your results.
The left and right arrows at the top of the page display allowing you to go back and forth between web pages.
Add WebTag adds a link to the current website to the card of the person on whom you’re searching. To open your results in your regular web browser instead, click the Use External Browser checkbox. (Note that this disables the Add WebTag button.)
For websites that require logging in (such as FamilySearch, Ancestry and Findmypast) the initial result will be a log in page on the website. Once you log in, the search results should appear.
How to Manage Search Providers in RootsMagic
You can add and edit providers.
Click SEARCH in the menu.
Click Edit Providers (at the bottom of the search box, above the list of people.)
Under the Standard Search Providers you’ll see not just genealogy websites, but also search engines like Google and Bing.
Click the Custom Search Providers
Click the Add
Type in the name of the provider.
In your web browser, go to the provider’s home page.
Use the search engine to search for John Doe 1700-1800.
Copy the URL (Ctrl + C) of the search results page.
Paste the URL (Ctrl + V) into the Search Results URL field in RootsMagic.
Click the OK button which will close the box.
You will now find the provider you just added at the bottom of the Provider list.
If there are any providers listed that you don’t want to show up in the list of providers, uncheck the box for that provider in Manage Search Providers.
Tips:
You can always resize your windows to fit side by side.
Right-click links in RootsMagic to open in a new browser tab at any time.
If you want searches to be conducted immediately without editing the person’s information, check the box for AutoSearch.
Click PEOPLE in the menu to return to that person’s profile in your tree.
4. Browsing Offline Websites
In order for Google to be able to deliver websites as search results, it has to visit them. It has bots that “crawl” the website. When it does, it keeps a copy known as a cached version. Google keeps cached version of all websites.
Occasionally websites are down, or they go offline temporarily for a variety of reasons. This search trick will give you a way to browse the website until it comes back online.
The Cache: search operator can be used in the Google search field followed by the URL of the webpage you are trying to access. Here’s an example of a search query that will let you browse the Genealogy Gems website if we are temporarily offline:
Cache:https://lisalouisecooke.com
It’s slow for browsing a website because you need to run a cache search for each page. But it’s great if you already have the link (such as a link to a video and show notes in our newsletter – just right-click on the red button and copy the link). It’s very handy if a link you have is broken and you want to see it again and perhaps try and track down a working link (as in the case where they have moved the page.)
5. How to Search with Photos and Images
How to Upload an Image to Google Image Search (Reverse Search):
Navigate to and select the digitized photo you saved to your computer.
Google will attempt to find that exact image, or the closest visually. Currently, Google can identify basic elements in the photo and better-known subjects.
Adjust the frame to crop or click dots to focus on search certain elements in the image.
Click the Find Image Source button at the top to dig further.
How to Search an Online Photo with Google Images (Reverse Search)
Right-click on a PC (Control-Click on a Mac) on the image on the web page.
In the pop-up menu select Copy Image Address.
Got to Google Images.
Click the camera icon in the search field.
Paste the image URL that you copied to your computer clipboard (on a PC use Control V on your keyboard.)
Click the Search by Image button to run your search.
Elevenses with Lisa is our little slice of heaven where friends get together for tea and talk about the thing that never fails to put a smile on our face: Genealogy!
The National Archives is a wonderful resource of unique genealogical records. Though the archives are closed, the website is open, and it’s a great place to search for records and prepare for future genealogy research trips.
The National Archives website and online catalog can be a bit mystifying. If you’ve ever tried to search it and wound up frustrated, you’re not alone. This is often the case because the nature of the archives and the search function of the online Catalog are not genealogically focused. Armed with an understanding of how and why it is set up the way it is, and the know-how to search, refine, and download documents, you’ll be ready to add it to your genealogy toolkit.
In this video episode and article, we’ll be answering important questions such as:
What kind of genealogy records can be found at the National Archives website?
Which genealogy records are not available at the National Archives?
How do I search for records at the National Archives online Catalog?
How can I retrieve only digital items from the National Archives Catalog?
How can I get better search results in the National Archives Online Catalog?
How do I download files from the National Archives Website?
What Kind of Records Can be Found at the National Archives Website?
To understand the types of records we can expect to find we must first understand the role and mission of the National Archives. Their role is preserving and making available only the permanent Federal Government records. Some have genealogical value.
These records are arranged as the agencies created them, so there is no master subject or name index.
While they have 110 million + digitized pages in the Catalog, this represents just a small fraction of the holdings.
The Catalog contains descriptions for their nationwide holdings in the Washington, DC area, regional facilities, and Presidential Libraries.
The Catalog currently contains descriptions for 95% of the records, described at the “series” level.
You can find basic information about the records, including size and location, from the catalog description.
The National Archives is regularly adding more file unit and item descriptions, many of which include digital files.
Some traditional genealogy records can be found at the National Archives such as:
Census Records
Passenger Arrival Records (Immigration)
Land Records
Military Personnel Records
Court records
Fugitive slave cases
Naturalization records
Federal employees
Applications for enrollment in Native American tribes
Most if these records are available in person. However, all National Archives locations have been closed since March 13, 2020 and remain so as of this writing.
Genealogy Records You Will Not Find at the National Archives
Because the following genealogy records are not created at the federal level, they would not be cataloged or found at the National Archives:
Birth
Marriage
Divorce
Death records
Deeds and wills.
To obtain these records, check with the appropriate state or county.
What to do before you search the National Archives Catalog online
Before you begin your online search:
Write down your research question.
Decide what topic you want to browse.
Think of possible ways your ancestor interacted with the Federal Government.
On the National Archives website they provide a great example of a research question that a genealogist might have and how it can lead to records.
QUESTION: Why did my ancestor have a significant decrease in net worth between the 1860 Census and 1870 Census?|
ASK YOURSELF: How might your ancestor have interacted with the federal government that could help explain this discrepancy?
RECORDS TO SEARCH FOR: The Bankruptcy Act of 1867 allowed many people to file for voluntary bankruptcy. The genealogists could search in the National Archives Catalog for bankruptcy AND [state where you ancestor lived during that timeframe] to see if bankruptcy records are available that could help answer the question.
How to Search the National Archives Catalog Online
There are three key types of searches you can conduct in the catalog:
Keyword searches
Filtered searches
Advanced search
Let’s start with a keyword search:
Go to https://catalog.archives.gov
Enter keywords in the search box in the center of the page.
(If you are looking for an exact phrase using two or more words, put them in quotation marks example: “bounty land”)
Press the magnifying glass button to run your search.
The results will be returned starting with best results at the top.
To view a description, click on the blue title.
You can use the filters on the left side of the results page to narrow down your results.
Refine your search results by type if you know the type of material you want. Example of material type include photos, maps, or textual records.
It’s important to remember that just because the item appears in the result does not mean that it is available online. Many of the descriptions don’t include digital images of the records.
How can I retrieve only digital items from the National Archives Catalog?
You can dramatically narrow down your search results to include only digital items that you can review from home. To do this, on the search results page, click on the filter Archival Descriptions with Digital Objects. This will revise your results list so that you will only see descriptions of items with images attached.
How can I get better search results in the National Archives Online Catalog?
It never hurts to try searching by name, although many record descriptions will not name the people who are named in the records. You can improve these searches by using quotes around the entire name, or just the surname. This will restrict results to only items that exactly matches what appears in the quotes.
You’ll notice that there isn’t a specific search field for names in the National Archives Catalog. Here are several additional search strategies you can use when searching for the names of people:
Search on the person’s full name in first name-last name order.
Search for last name – first name within quotes
Search on the surname only. Again you can use quotes.
Search on spelling variations using the search operator OR. This works well when searching name variations such as: Burkett OR Burkette.
Search on variant spellings of the first name, including “Americanized” versions.
Example: Joseph Maggio OR Guiseppe Maggio.
Again, keep in mind that most descriptions in the National Archives Catalog do not include the names of people mentioned in the record. If you know an individual participated in event, search for related keywords and look within the records. You will need to read them to see if your ancestor is mentioned.
Another way to improve your search results is to shift your focus from people to topics. This is strongly recommended by the National Archives. You are much more likely to get a greater number of results because people aren’t usually named in descriptions. Be sure to read the description carefully to see if the item will be helpful and worth requesting.
When searching topics, think about and make a list of relevant phrases and keywords. For example, when searching for Land Records, try searching for phrases such as:
How to Download Files from the National Archives Website
After clicking the description on the search results page you will be on the record page. If there is a digital image, it can be downloaded. Look below to see if there are additional pages. You can click to select the desired page and then click the download icon just below the image.
If you would like to download all of the images, look below the list of images to see if a compiled PDF is available. This will allow you to download and save all of the images in one convenient file.
The Record Group Explorer at the National Archives Website
The Record Group Explorer offers a unique way of visualizing and finding records at the National Archives website:
Allows you to browse NARA’s holdings by Record Group
Use it to get a sense of the scale and organization of records
Explore what is available online via the Catalog
Provides an overview of the digital scans available online within a Record Group: textual records, photographs, maps and charts, electronic records, and more.
Records are grouped by specific government agencies. Each group is represented visually in a section. The section is light blue, signifying the total volume of textual records. If a dark blue bar appears in the section, it is an indicator that some of the records are digitized. The percentage or number (depending on the view you select in the grey Record Group Explorer Tools bar across the top) of digital images will be shown.
If the section is green, that indicates that there are records online but they are not textual records. They may be items like photographs or films.
If the section is grey, there are no records available online at all.
Click a section to learn more about that Record Group and explore the records.
Record Group Highlight: Motion Pictures
The National Archives holds a surprising number of motion pictures. As you browse or search, focusing on topic will likely be more helpful than searching by name. Consider looking for your ancestors’ homes, businesses, military service, events and associated locations.
“A series of films: 306-LSS, a group of more than 400 black and white reels of stock footage that ended up in the hands of the United States Information Agency (USIA).”
Answers to Live Chat Questions
One of the advantages of tuning into the live broadcast of each Elevenses with Lisa show is participating in the Live Chat and asking your questions.
From Sue M.: Do they hold WPA and CCC records? From Lisa: Yes to both!
From Steve S.: Can you use the * and ? as search operators in the NARA catalog? Also thanks for de-mystifying this site! you have made it much more understandable. From Lisa: After the show Steve did some searching and found this handy page providing additional search tips and operators supported by the website. Thanks Steve!
From Michael R.: Are the Naturalization records in the National Archives different from those in local courthouses? From Lisa: I haven’t looked lately, but about 15 years ago I filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request and received my great grandfather’s federal naturalization paperwork. It included a photograph that was not included at the county court level.
From Lynnette B.: I had my parent’s old home movies put on DVD’s several years ago. What is the next step in making them more available? Adobe spark video? YouTube? I want to identify each person on them? From Lisa: An easy way to get started is by making Adobe Spark Videos (see episode 16) which is free and easy. Use the Titles feature to add text explaining who is who. Uploading them to your free YouTube account channel is a super easy way to share them.
Resources
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