Genealogy Interpreter
 
Providing the Key to Your Family History 

Genealogy Resources

Ancestry.com
This is a great site for getting started. While costly, it allows access to an immense amount of international documents, though a domestic subscription costs much less. It is mostly user friendly. However, many documents are transcribed incorrectly. Still, it is invaluable and useful on a daily basis.

Archives.com
Every document Genealogy Interpreter has found on this site has also been readily available elsewhere. Very frustrating.

Association for Professional Genealogists (APG)
This is an amazing organization of dedicated professionals who provide a wealth of resources to the field. For a reasonable membership fee, a great deal can be learned by joining their listserv, reading their magazine, and participating in their free webinars.

Avotaynu.com
Publisher of resources on Jewish Genealogy

BillionGraves.com
Photos of tombstones are uploaded by volunteers, who sometimes add genealogical information to cemetery listings. Not all posts contain accurate information, but it is still a useful resource for leads. Their content is free and may vary from FindAGrave.

Board for Certification of Genealogists (BCG)
This is one of the certifying bodies for genealogists in the United States. They have many free and useful articles on their site, and produce a newsletter for a small annual fee, as well.

Boston University's Genealogical Research Certificate Program
(BU)
This is an excellent and intense training on a number of topics. Courses are available online and onsite. Significant tuition discounts are given to members of APG or NEHGS.

Bureau of Land Management's General Land Office Records (GLO)
A wealth of federal land patents, maps, and other documents.

Coursera
Free (mostly non-credit) courses from universities around the world on a huge variety of topics.

Cyndi's List
When you are at your wits end, go to Cyndi's List. She will introduce you to resources you never knew existed. Cyndi is an amazing contributor to the world of genealogy.

Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR)
The DAR provides a wealth of genealogical resources on families linked to Patriots who fought for our freedom in the Revolutionary War.

Eastman's Online Genealogy Newsletter (EOGN)
Dick Eastman sends a daily newsletter/blog filled with articles and announcements about timely issues, events, resources, and technology in the genealogical world. He has both a free version and a paid subscription that gives members access to a few extra articles per month.

Ellis Island Foundation
Excellent images of the ship manifests and other documents from Ellis Island, New York.
Evidence Explained
Elizabeth Shown Mills, queen of genealogical citations, wrote the incomparable book and recently created the website of the same name. Her site provides complementary instruction and examples. Her book is enormously helpful and belongs on every genealogist's reference shelf.

FamilySearch.org
From the world's largest genealogy library, this phenomenal website is run by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in Salt Lake City, Utah. They are committed to keeping the site free, and charge only a minimal fee to rent microfilms that have not yet been digitized. The only challenge is learning how to navigate the site. It is affiliated with the Family History Library.

Find A Grave
Photos of tombstones are uploaded by volunteers, who sometimes add genealogical information to cemetery listings. Not all posts contain accurate information, but it is still a useful resources for leads. Their content is free and may vary from BillionGraves.

Fold3.com
Provides members excellent digital images of mostly American military records, and many other useful documents. (Formerly known as Footnote.com)

Fulton History ("Old Fulton")
By far, this is both the most unusual and best free site for New York research. Thousands, or perhaps millions of pages of newspapers from every corner of New York have been scanned and made available to search with OCR detection. This can lead to some questionable results, but if you are both patient and creative, you might strike gold.

Genealogy Interpreter
Here I am! My goal is to provide high quality genealogical services and resources to Deaf and Hearing clients. While you are visiting, check out my blog.

GeneaWebinars
This site lists a wide variety of genealogy-based webinars in an easy to follow calendar.

Geni.com
This is the wikipedia of genealogy sites, with a free and subscription version available. Useful to a point, the risk is posting years of work only to find someone else modifying it incorrectly, or lobbing off entire branches of your tree when merging profiles. Still, there is enough unique data to make it worth checking from time to time.

HeritageQuest
This useful research site requires a subscription, usually through an academic institution.

Jewish Gen
This is a website for many areas of Jewish Genealogy. It is free, although one must register to use it. The search features are limited unless you pay a subscription fee (to unlock the advanced search features).

Jewish Genealogical Society of Greater Boston (JGSGB)
This society provides workshops live and on recorded cds. They are helping organize the 2013 International Conference on Jewish Genealogy to be held in Boston in August 2013.
Legacy Family Tree Webinars
This site hosts numerous free webinars. Archived webinars are also available, though some have a fee.

Legal Genealogist Blog
Written by a genealogist with a law degree, Judy Russell helps us understand the intersection of law and genealogy for matters of copyright vs. fair use, and other tricky situations.

Library of Congress
Among their collections, they hold a huge number of newspapers from all over the United States.

Massachusetts Genealogical Council
Dedicated genealogists work tirelessly to ensure continued access to public records, and host an excellent annual conference.

Massachusetts State Archives
This collection holds the many years of the Massachusetts Vital Records, and much more. Some of these materials have been digitized, and are accessible to NEHGS members on that website.

Mocavo.com
This is a searchable site, but Genealogy Interpreter has not fully explored it yet. One can often get a free year's membership to Mocavo with a membership in APG.

My Heritage
This is a new resource to my arsenal. So far it has been much more helpful than sites like Geni, and is on par with Ancestry for finding lost living relatives who share common ancestors. I have not yet unlocked this site's full potential.

National Archives and Records Administration (NARA)
Many of our nation's records have been put on microfilm and are available through a variety of sites. Still, a tremendous number of documents have not yet been filmed, and are only available in person the Washington, D.C. area (or by mail).

National Genealogical Society
(NGS)
A national organization providing resources for professional development and more.

New England Historic Genealogical Society (NEHGS)
This is the place that started it all for me. In the 1920s, my great grandfather hired NEHGS to provide elaborate research for our family. I've been blessed to inherit the binder full of gems that genealogist found, long before the advance of digitized documents and the internet.

New England Chapter of the Association for Professional Genealogists (NEAPG)
This is the local chapter of the APG, which gets together several times a year for a variety of events, ranging from social gatherings to professional workshops and business meetings.

New England Regional Genealogy Conference (NERGC)

Hosted biannually, and said to be an important regional conference.
Norwegian National Archives
Excellent, free access to numerous data collections of Norway's vital records, census reports, emigration records, business directories, and more can be found here.

National Union Catalog of Manuscripts Collections (NUCMC)
Affiliated with the Library of Congress, this site can help track down collections that hold unique personal documents such as old diaries, letters, and photographs held in libraries around the country.

NYC Dept of Vital Records

Many old vital records can be viewed by renting microfilms for $7.50 each from the Family History Library via FamilySearch.org. Ordering the same record directly from the NY office costs $15 each. Newer records may only be obtained from the NY office, under strict privacy laws. Note: Only records from within NYC are held here. All other vital records for the state of New York are in the NY State Archives.

ProGen Study Group (ProGen)
Cohorts of genealogists provide peer mentorship to one another, under the leadership of a certified genealogist. They host monthly discussions and submit assignments for peer review, while studying Elizabeth Shown Mills' book "Professional Genealogy" for 19 months. This program costs less than $100 to join, but there is a long waiting list. It is a great springboard, especially for those genealogists who aim to become certified.

ProQuest
This site usually requires an academic affiliation to get access. However, for the month of February 2013, the site is free to all.

Smith College Archives
One of my favorite places on Earth. Read about it in my blog post about Mother's Day.

Sons of the American Revolution (SAR)
Much like the DAR, the SAR celebrates descendants of those who supported the Revolution. Many documents are available online via Ancestry.com.

Swedish Archives
Unlike the Norwegian Archives, you must pay credits as you go to access Swedish records. Many, but not all, are available online via Ancestry.com. It seems they provide two free days of access per year around the time of St. Patrick's Day.

Transitional Genealogists Forum
This listserv is designed for genealogists seeking to build their skills to pass certification.

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM)
This museum is working tirelessly to honor both those who died in and those who survived the atrocities of the Holocaust. They are helping child survivors reunite with relatives, researching what happened to their family members, and educating the world that it did, in fact, happen and must never happen again. Learn more on my Volunteer page.

WorldCat
Allows users to search many (but not all) local, public, and academic libraries to see their holdings.
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