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Compiled Sources & Where to Find Them: Difference between revisions
Compiled Sources & Where to Find Them (view source)
Revision as of 11:54, 26 March 2010
, 26 March 2010→Step 2. Preliminary search for compiled genealogies, biography, local history
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Every family history researcher—beginner or scientific—must do the same, diligently! In seeking to locate compiled sources on your family lines, it pinpoints on a ‘map’ more precisely where you’ve ‘arrived’, in your research. If you don't learn what’s already “known” or a given, about your family, how will you know where you want to go if you don’t know the current point to where you’ve progressed in your family’s historical research? If your preliminary searches stop with closet, attic, or basement-shelf and box searches in family and home sources, then you are in danger of ignoring a whole world of additional compiled sources beckoning you to discover them. Do not restrict nor limit your chances to discover ancestry [as] compiled by competent researchers who have made a galant effort to research ancestral connections and genealogies in a comprehensive and thorough manner! To smugly fold the arms, cock the head back and think, ‘That’s all I need to know; now let’s start researching in original and primary record sources’—is naïve at least and, at worst it short-circuits the comprehensive research process (which includes a thorough investigation into obtaining ''all'' available compiled sources)! | Every family history researcher—beginner or scientific—must do the same, diligently! In seeking to locate compiled sources on your family lines, it pinpoints on a ‘map’ more precisely where you’ve ‘arrived’, in your research. If you don't learn what’s already “known” or a given, about your family, how will you know where you want to go if you don’t know the current point to where you’ve progressed in your family’s historical research? If your preliminary searches stop with closet, attic, or basement-shelf and box searches in family and home sources, then you are in danger of ignoring a whole world of additional compiled sources beckoning you to discover them. Do not restrict nor limit your chances to discover ancestry [as] compiled by competent researchers who have made a galant effort to research ancestral connections and genealogies in a comprehensive and thorough manner! To smugly fold the arms, cock the head back and think, ‘That’s all I need to know; now let’s start researching in original and primary record sources’—is naïve at least and, at worst it short-circuits the comprehensive research process (which includes a thorough investigation into obtaining ''all'' available compiled sources)! | ||
This heavily ignored ‘Second step’ is ''still'' a viable ''vital'' step in the research process and is to be a part of the search strategy. <u>Every</u> researcher should employ the step to search for outside (home/family) "compiled sources" by | This heavily ignored ‘Second step’ is ''still'' a viable ''vital'' step in the research process and is to be a part of the search strategy. <u>Every</u> researcher should employ the step to seek out and search for outside (home/family) "compiled sources" by the (especially) genuinely competent researcher[s], who've made their "findings" public. Regrettably, it is the most overlooked part of the research process, and is routinely discarded and usually is not considered standard procedure. Millions worldwide currently seek their ancestry; most of them have made some or all of their findings accessible in some form or manner. Why not expend the effort to seek and obtain these “findings”? Conversely, why would any "researcher" turn the nose up at someone else's documented compilations who clearly have lavished an intense passion, thousands of hours of research work, and if not, sacrificed thousands of dollars to appropriately document their genealogy! For those who may argue that the compilations of others aren't worth the time spent to "find" them, due to "mistakes" or fuzzy data and/or conclusions, we should ask: Why would any true genealogist or passionate family history buff discard this standard of seeking and searching in compiled sources outside the home, by narrowly considering that no one else is “qualified” to research? For every thousand family history compilers who may generate fuzzy genealogical ‘data’, there are many ''very'' competent researchers and writers who have credibly researched and written a well-polished, or professional-level family history compilation. It is especially for these latter "credible" compilations of competent researchers of which make it worthy of our time spent to seek-out, review and assimilate their data. | ||
So, here’s the ‘Second step’ every researcher should employ in the research process—but it is also the most overlooked part of the research process and not always considered standard procedure. | |||
==== Find and Search “Compiled Sources”: A List ==== | ==== Find and Search “Compiled Sources”: A List ==== | ||
Here’s a | Here’s a great place to start for a "list" of resources of where to begin to find online, or published and manuscript (compiled) sources on family surnames and lineages: | ||
==== O'''nline family genealogy sites, pedigrees, family history, etc. sites:''' ==== | ==== O'''nline family genealogy sites, pedigrees, family history, etc. sites:''' ==== | ||