Genealogical Research: Research Tips

If you know which state you need your information from, try consulting this list of state libraries and archives, and seeing what records they have available.

If you have a city or county in mind, try Googling that city or county with the words "archives" or "public records" to find a local agency.

Consult a list of "Repositories of Primary Sources" all over the globe (from the University of Idaho).

The library also owns a reference book called The Genealogist's Address Book, which can help you identify other local and nationality-specific sources.

• When searching for records, ask yourself: Who cares? What agency, municipality, or person cares enough about the information you're looking for to keep and organize it? Courts? Historical societies? At the local or national level? This will help you zero in better on a starting point.
• Be mindful of what sources you're using. In genealogical research, primary source records are the most important, because they can easily be cited. Moreover, primary sources cannot be disputed.
• Search for multiple spellings of names. Some collections may use the "Soundex" system, which brings together differently spelled names that sound the same. See the National Archives' explanation of Soundex.
• Organization is key. Try to research one family line at a time -- researching multiple family lines at once may cause you to feel bogged down and subsequently become disorganized.
• Don't use someone else's family tree for your own research. Personal genealogy websites and shared/public trees on websites such as Ancestry.com are someone else's research, not yours. Their research may or may not be incorrect; it is up to you to locate accurate records and sources.