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In September 2001, the U.S. Senate passed the Family History Resolution, designating October as a month to promote the value of knowing your family story.[1] Genealogical societies like the National Genealogical Society (NGS) were at the forefront of the fight to gain official recognition for Family History Month. At the heart of the celebration is collaboration, advocacy, education, and preservation, all of which are pillars of the NGS mission statement, as well as those of many genealogical and historical societies across the U.S.
So what can you do to join
the Family History Month Celebration?
· Start your
preservation project. Catalog old photographs and share them with your family.
Write a biographical sketch of one of your ancestors based on the research
you’ve done, and share it with your family. Interview relatives and share those
interviews with your family. Are you sensing a pattern here? Share, share,
share. The more widely your family story is disseminated, the better chance
that it will be carried on and preserved. NGS is here to help to help you
document your family history with free downloadable PDFs.
· Find a society and join the family history community. We’re a fun bunch, dedicated to
helping each other and preserving records important to family history research.
Hundreds of societies offer research content and guidance that may be specific
to your area of interest. Meetings and online webinars allow you to collaborate
and gather insights from others who share your interests. You can find a
society matching your research interests in NGS’ searchable directory here.
· When you become a member of NGS, you help preservation efforts like the NGS Preserve the Pensions Project: Phase II, which kicked off in collaboration with the National
Archives and Records Administration (NARA) in January. NGS is also a founding
partner of the Records Preservation & Access Coalition (RPAC), which works as an advocate to ensure the preservation
of and access to records we need as genealogists.
· Volunteering for society indexing projects can yield benefits to your own research, by exposing you to record collections and filing systems you may have never dealt with and give you a keener understanding of how to search similar collections for your research. ConferenceKeepers.com has a list of genealogy volunteer opportunities.
We
hope you’ll take a moment to remember your ancestors in some way this month and
share the joy of your ancestors’ legacy with your relatives and community.