Tag: genealogy education

ProGen and Continuing Education

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On 2 March 2015

In Personal, Resources

ProGen

I am very excited that I was invited in to the next ProGen study group, ProGen 25. It officially starts this month but we’ve had a month to kind of get to know each other. I was excited to see many of my BU classmates on the list too!

So what is ProGen? ProGen is a study group that works with the book Professional Genealogy: A Manual for Researchers, Writers, Editors, Lecturers and Librarians, edited by Elizabeth Shown Mills. Now, I actually bought this book when looking into becoming a professional, before I started the blog My People in History even. This was the FIRST step I took to becoming a professional. This book is what brought me to blogging, the NGS Home Study Course, the Boston University course I mentioned above, and the NGS Conference. Really, it helped to bring me to where I am right now. Which, funny enough, brought me back to studying and re-reading this book with other genealogists. It must be kismet!

So what does ProGen entail? Each month we read one or two chapters from the book and complete writing assignments that go along with what we read. We submit these to our peer group who then read and review them each month. This conversation and peer review is what makes ProGen the fantastic opportunity that it is! Out of everything recommended to me in my path to certification, ProGen is probably mentioned the most as being the most beneficial opportunity.

Our goal this month is to create an educational plan. Here are some of my educational goals with a rough time line:

Institutes Wish-List

  • GRIP: Genealogical Research Institute of Pittsburgh – I am hoping to take this next year and will probably focus on genetic genealogy.
  • Gen-Fed – Genealogical Institute on Federal Records – I would love to take courses here on land records research.
  • IGHR – Institute of Genealogy and Historical Research; SLIG – Salt Lake Institute of Genealogy: both of these are a “one day” kind of thing at the moment. They both have wonderful courses and a lot of benefit to me, but as institutes are expensive, right now I am just focusing on the first two that I mentioned.

Conferences

  • Any and all national conferences! Last year I attended the NGS conference and cannot this year, sadly. But I loved every moment of it and I cannot wait to go to more national conferences!
  • Local conferences: For example, the Indiana Genealogical Society Conference and the South Bend Area Genealogical Society’s Genealogy Fair

Genealogy Journals

I have several subscriptions and my goal is to sit down with them and then study a case study like the NGS Monthly discusses. I plan on working on one a month right now and may up that as time goes on. This will help me with my genealogy writing and research process!

 

Have any of you taken an institute or participated in a conference that you feel is a must? Comment below with what and why!

 

 

Genealogy Journals and PERSI

By

On 23 February 2015

In Research, Resources

Most professional groups have some sort of periodical or journal. This is different than a magazine in that articles take up the majority of the space instead of advertisements, and the contributors are those in the field instead of a journalist. Genealogy has several journals that everyone, even the hobbyist, can learn from. These are relatively easy to find and use as well.

There are several perks to reading and studying these journal articles:

  • Methodology – Most articles are about a complex research question and how the author figured out the most reasonable answer.
  • Resources – The articles will mention resources in various places around the world that you may have been unaware of.
  • Citations – The articles in journals have wonderful citations that could lead you to similar findings.
  • Writing – Genealogy journals are an excellent example of genealogical writing.
  • Surnames – There are other people looking for the same people you are; perhaps they even wrote an article about it and you can see their research in a journal.

PERSI (Periodical Search Index)

PERSI is a subject index for history/genealogy periodicals from all over. I mentioned above that you can find your research surname in journals, so if you’re curious if anyone has written about a surname you research, you can search PERSI. Where do you find PERSI?

Ancestry.com used to have it but no longer does, just an FYI.

Searching PERSI with HeritageQuest

PERSI

PERSI is not an every word index – you can search by:

  • People – you can search by surname, keyword, or periodical – Remember that the surname shows up only if it’s in the title. Adding a location or periodical can help with results.
  • Places – state, county, keyword, record type, Canada, and other countries are all available to narrow down your search
  • How-To’s – you can search by keyword and record type
  • Periodicals – specific title keywords can be searched here

Randy Seaver from Genea-Musings created a blog post about how to search PERSI on FindMyPast.com that is well worth reading if you have a subscription there (or have thought about a subscription).

Major Journals

Most libraries will have the top periodicals available in their genealogy section, especially if genealogy is a big research draw for them. Here are some major journals that are well worth reading:

Many times you can also find an index published by the periodical’s organization that list the surnames for their specific publication. These indexes can also be found online at times. For example, the New England Historical and Genealogical Register can be searched through Ancestry.com for the years 1847-2011.

Local Journals/Newsletters

Don’t forget to check out if there are local journals for your area too. Most genealogy societies do have at least a newsletter or quarterly with the same kind of information in the major journals, except more local. These can be found at the local library.

Local journals are also becoming more available online too as newsletters and journals become electronic. For example, I am a part of the Indiana Genealogical Society and their publication, Indiana Genealogist, is available online for members. I love this as I can then search the publication with a keyword search from my computer if need be. Not to mention this is a lot more cost effective!

 

Leave a comment below if you feel I left out a great journal or if you have had some great finds using periodicals. Happy hunting!

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