 Welcome to the National Archives and Records Administration's genealogy series, a set of educational lectures on how to do family research. I'm Andrea Matney, the program's coordinator, and pleased to bring you the next session in our series. These lectures demonstrate how to use federal records and other resources for genealogical research for beginning to experienced family historians. Our presenters include experts from the National Archives nationwide. During the premiere broadcast, we invite you to join the conversation. Please participate by using YouTube's chat and Twitter. So this is the third of six sessions being broadcast over two months, and here is our May schedule, and here is our June schedule. Previous sessions, the presentation slides and video will remain available after the broadcast. As you can see from this slide, chat is available as a video plays. We invite you to participate. First, log into YouTube and then type in your questions. Keep your eye on the chat during the broadcast because speakers will answer your questions there. You don't have to wait until the end. Please type in your questions in at any time. Under the video box, you'll see the live captioning, handout, and event evaluation. Click the words show more to see their links. Now on to our session. Tips and tools for engaging family with your research finds with Missy McNatt and Dorothy Daugherty. During this session, family historians will learn how to connect research findings in an engaging way with younger family members. So Missy McNatt is an education specialist at the National Archives in Washington, DC, where she has worked since 2006. As you can see from her biography, she is an instrumental part of the education team. And Dorothy Daugherty has worked at the National Archives for 20 years. She is the virtual public programs director at the National Archives at New York City and team leader for its public education and outreach program. We are now beginning our session and it will begin with Missy McNatt and now turning the broadcast over to Missy. Thank you for that great introduction, Andrea. And Dorothy and I look forward to sharing our tips and tools for engaging families in genealogy research with tools and records from the National Archives. Today, we will share how you can captivate young genealogists with federal records, build on their personal interests and stories from your budding genealogists with National Archives educational activities, and then how you can find the activities and the genealogy resources online. I manage the Boeing Learning Center in the National Archives Museum in Washington, DC. It's a drop in space for visitors to the museum. Many visitors come to the Boeing Learning Center because they are interested in genealogy research. But I quickly discovered that it isn't just adults. Young people also want to unearth their roots. In 2014, I facilitated the first genealogy camp for kids at the National Archives. And over the years, we learned that the genealogy camp for kids is much more than an experience for young people to dig into their past. It teaches valuable civics lessons. As we access records from the federal government, we learn that we have census records because Article 1, Section 2 of the Constitution empowers Congress to carry out the census in, quote, such manner as they shall by law direct, unquote. And we have military records because of Article 1, Section 8 of the Constitution, quote, the Congress shall have power to raise and support armies, unquote. Citizenship and immigration are mentioned in several places in the Constitution. And as we examine the Constitution, the genealogy campers gain a better understanding of our democratic process. We learned a number of lessons from the genealogy camp for kids. And one of the first things we learned was that genealogy camp promotes critical thinking skills. As the campers closely read family records, evaluate the accuracy of their findings, and then synthesize the materials into a coherent story. As Benjamin Franklin once said, tell me and I forget, teach me and I remember, involve me, and I learn. Personal genealogy research is truly an authentic learning experience and connects young people to real world research. They develop problem-solving skills and develop a final product to share with family and friends. And finally, we observe that family ties are strengthened. Campers reach out to parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins with questions. Connections are created or strengthened and family reunions are planned. When young people sign up for the genealogy camp, I always ask them why they're interested. And there are many reasons. Believe it or not, there are a lot of history buffs out there. Young people who just want to learn more about history. And no surprise, many young people are interested because someone in their family has already started some genealogy research. And one kid even responded, grandma is an ancestry addict. And another more recent motive for kids to learn about their past is the increased availability of DNA testing kits. So someone in the family has completed a DNA test and they're trying to figure out what those results mean. And then we have families that take those great history trips, places like Ellis Island, and they come back with all kinds of questions. And so what better place than going to the genealogy camp for kids at the National Archives to get those answers? In addition, many schools actually, more and more schools are finding include genealogy research. And it's for a variety of reasons at the middle and high school level. And students are learning great research skills as they go through the process. And then they are connecting to the history of the broader area. And I recently worked with the DC Elementary School and their goal is to understand the students for them to understand their identity. And what better way to understand your identity than by doing genealogy research? And then finally there's a group of kids who just love puzzles and challenges. And certainly genealogy research is a gigantic jigsaw puzzle. As a world change last year as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, so did the genealogy camp for kids. And like the rest of the world, we went virtual. And as with so many changes, there were pluses and minuses to the virtual world. I missed being with the campers in person, but I loved having young people from across the United States involved. And then last year as part of the camp, we asked the campers to produce a final product in which they described one of the records they discovered during the camp. We will listen to three of the campers tell us about what they found. The first one is great grandfather registered for the draft. During NARA's genealogy for kids camp, I found a copy of my great grandfather's World War II registration certificate for the Army. And right here. And this information on this certificate is important to me because it gives me insight into what his life was like, both as a soldier and how he worked. And what he did other than enlisting in the military. Next we learned how a camper found his two times great grandpa's Civil War record. Found a Civil War index which led me to the roster for the 38th Indian Regiment. My third great grandfather Robert Easton served for five years when he was 28 to 32 years old. He died 14 months after he got home and the historical reference is the Civil War. The most well-known campaign they were in was the Siege of Atlanta and being with General Sherman as he burned his way across Georgia to Savannah. And then here we learn about the oldest document that a camper discovered. Hello, I am Brandon and this is the oldest document that I could find on ancestry.com of my family. Not the oldest person though, the oldest person was Thomas Bathurst and he was born in 1789. And we could not find any documentation of him. And here is the document. Alan Bathurst as I think says right here. So starting genealogy research can be bewildering. Who do I research? Where do I start? One of the first things we talk about at the genealogy camp for kids is what is a family? And our definition of family is really quite simple. It's all who love and support each other. So families can be a single parent and a child. It could be a multi-generational household. It can include cousins and friends. And it's truly up to the camper to decide who he or she will research. And guess what? Your family can even include your pet. So one way to begin family research is with a fun and creative family tree that can be found at start with the family tree activity on the National Archives website. The URL for the page is on the handout. We have a variety of family trees to use. This family tree is one of the most popular and it's a very traditional one with mom and dad and then grandparents and great-grandparents. We have these family trees as handouts in the Boeing Learning Center. And when visitors pointed out to us that the traditional family tree was restrictive in terms of blended families, we knew we had to design something else. And this family tree works for a blended family or you could use it to add additional information for a traditional family. Now this family tree is designed specifically for a blended family and you can read the designations on the tree. And we also knew we needed a family tree for our youngest visitors. Young children can draw a picture of the person or pet in the square or paste a photograph in the square. It can be a great fun work of art to share. And I encourage you to ask your little ones in your family circle who is in their family. You may be surprised by the responses you get. And last but not least, we have this fun family trees with balloons and this was actually designed for a genealogy fair many years ago. Another great tool to connect a family history is with a family food tree recipe book. This authentic recipe for a pound cake and note the one pound of sugar, the one pound of flour, the one pound of butter, although it does say scant. I'm not quite sure how you figure that one out. And the nine eggs is from Nellie Nolan and Mary Ethel, cousins of President Harry Truman's. So do you have family recipes that have been handed down from one generation to the next? My sister has been on a crusade to collect family recipes and create a cookbook for several years now. And of course the collection can be more than just recipes, including fun facts about the recipes make it even more special. And suddenly you have a recipe journal. Planning a family reunion, ask everyone to bring their favorite recipes and why the recipes are important to them. Or a project with the young child could be to include favorite foods rather than names on one of the National Archives family trees. In the holdings of the National Archives are other great examples of family records. Can someone in your family draw, knit, crochet, or embroider? Turn those skills into a family tree and a work of art. So you're probably wondering why the National Archives has this sampler created by Mary Hearn of Nantucket in 1793. This sampler was created as a personal family treasure, but it became a federal record when the pension claimants were required to show proof of relationship to a Revolutionary War veteran and submitted it to the U.S. government. So you can be inspired by works of art like this by this young woman from over 225 years ago. And a facsimile of what we call the Laura Goodale Sampler is one of my favorite documents to share with the Genie campers. This sampler was created listing the parents and the children. Then if you look really closely and carefully, we see Samuel Goodale was born December 23rd, 1813. He's all the way at the bottom. Nine years after Phoebe, the youngest child, so life is full of surprises. This is a fractor from the family of Isaac Dickinson, again submitted to the federal government as proof of relationship to a Revolutionary War veteran. What's a fractor? It's an artistic and elaborate folk art created by the Pennsylvania Germans, also known as the Pennsylvania Dutch or Deutsch, and is named after the German fractor script. And we've created a new activity sheet that is based on this particular factor. And here is this great activity sheet. You can download it and you can put in the information and color it in. Ever gone down a rabbit hole as you research your family? I love this example of a family tree created by Caden Stundaro. This family tree is a great example of creativity and facts. And it shows us that kids of all ages can design a family tree and all you need is a piece of paper, some crayons or colored pencils. Have fun. So yes, we have some great activities on the National Archives website, but that's not our only tool to connect young people to genealogy. DocsTeach.org is a website designed for teachers, students and history explorers. DocsTeach has over 12,000 primary source documents and is a terrific tool to enhance the analysis of documents that can tell us so much about who we are. We can examine passenger arrival records and naturalization records, asking those important questions of who, what, when, where and why. In this case, it's about Luther Powell. And guess what? Luther Powell is Colin Powell's father. So we can take this activity from DocsTeach one step further and we can use the questions on DocsTeach to analyze your own naturalization records or you can compare them to what we learn about Luther Powell. People arrived in what is now the United States from many points of entry. They may have come through Ellis Island in New York or Angel Island in California. They may have come from Mexico or Canada and the journey may have been one of their own choosing or it could have been a forced migration. An engaging activity for young people to think about what people brought with them to their new home is by examining a photograph such as this. So we see the immigrants arriving on Ellis Island and if you look very closely and carefully, you can see that they either have one small suitcase or perhaps a bundle. So what is in that one small suitcase or bundle as you start a new life? You're leaving behind your loved ones. So what did you bring? Clothes, photographs, perhaps even letters. And does anyone have any documentation in your family of what was brought here on that immigration journey? On this slide, we see a family that was part of the Great Western Migration. With a covered wagon, there's a little bit more room and there are great stories of people migrating west with their cherished items, perhaps a piano because people loved music or a special piece of furniture. Then they got to the Rocky Mountains and the horses were unable to pull the wagons over the mountains with all the excess luggage and so these treasured items were left on the trail. So you can think about if your family was part of this Great Western Migration, they can connect to them by perhaps writing a letter to an ancestor or even writing a story about their journey or a poem. You can also use maps and geography to connect to the past. This map shows immigration patterns to the United States between 1820 and 1924. You can ask the question, does your family fit into these patterns? And if so, which ones? And if not, when did they come to the United States and where did they come from? And next, we have an activity that we've designed to show immigration patterns. So this is an activity that you can download and you can draw using a ruler and a pencil showing where people came from and where they landed. So maps and geography show migration patterns within the United States. So statistically, people move 11 times during their lifetime and when you research generations of families, that can be a lot of moves. For the geography and map lovers of the family, tracking those moves on a map can be a terrific way to connect to family history. So we've also recently designed a migration map of the United States. And here it is, you can do the same thing. You can get your ruler and your colored pencil and you can start with one side of the family and show where they moved, put the date on the map to indicate when they moved and then you can do the other side of the family. So these are great ways to connect some great tools and some great tips to connect to young genealogists. But there's no better way to find where people moved and lived than those U.S. census records. And now Dorothy will tell us how census records are a fun and engaging way to engage young family genealogists. Thank you, Missy. Okay, so let's think about common connections in your family, your current family and the family you found on a U.S. federal census record. As you know, the National Archives maintains census records from 1790 on up to 1940. And census data is all about questions and answers because someone in your family was interviewed by a census enumerator. We suggest you start by a very simple interview activity with your family. Ask your family members what they think about a line of information. How does it compare to your current family? For example, did your family own a radio according to the 1930 census? How many radios, TVs, etc. do they currently have in the house? You can even engage your young children in the family by asking them about their schooling. And you can simply tie that into any of the literacy and education questions asked on the multiple census records over the years. You can also make geographic connections with census records. Think about mapping out addresses for a select family member and then how they may have physically moved from one point in time to another. And you can use as many census records as you have. For example, let us map Catherine Felton on the 1940 census. You can see there's an enlarged section of the census here. The header reads that this is for New York, Queens County. The highlighted green section at the bottom shows Catherine Felton and her husband, John. And then if you look at the second column on the left, that shows her address as 74th Street. So she's currently living in a place called Glendale, New York. Here in the 1930 census, you can see we have mapped out her address and she's living at the same address. Keep going back. Look at the 1920 census and you'll see she lived in Brooklyn. And we can keep on going from one census record to the next, but I think three examples are enough for us to map her movement. So take those addresses and start with the 1921. Put it in an online tool that you can get easily from Google, Yahoo. Or another and pin it. Then add the next address. You can see a line of movement slowly moving to the right. And you could share that visual map with your family as a way to engage young people. You could take this activity a step further and add your current family address. And again, it's a great visual way to show how far away the family may have moved over 80, 90, 100 years or how close they actually stayed to where they once lived. Mapping addresses can be such a fun visual experience, but wouldn't it be great to go and visit the old house or the old neighborhood? I actually did this with my family a few years back and I can tell you there's a fantastic way to create lasting family memories. Does your family have game night? Use to trivia night in person or in line. You can do this by taking any of the data you find on a census record. Select the questions and answers and then quiz your family members. See who can get the most answers right. And of course, any trivia game should have a prize. Personally, I like candy, but you can actually surprise your family with your tech prowess by sharing a free animated image also known as a gift from the National Archives Giffy Channel. There are so many historical images to choose from, but this one is particularly fun of children clapping. And you can note all the gifts can be shared on any social media channel. It can also be downloaded and shared via text or on smartphone. And it's just a fun way to engage with your family. You could also take your trivia challenge to the next level by making a family challenge around the release of the 1950 census. Did you know that it will be released in April of 2022? Challenge your family members to try and guess the answers for a certain relative. And then you can all wait in anticipation for the release of it. And if you haven't started preparing for that release of the 1950 census, the Archivist of the United States has a great blog post on how to get ready for it. So we talked about connecting data on the U.S. census records, but sometimes it's easy to connect when the person is relatable. Maybe you don't know everyone on the census record, so it's hard to really engage family if they don't have a memory of that person. So let's bring a record to life by using an example that everyone should know about. And that would be Elvis Presley. In 1940, Elvis is listed as five on the census, but so many people know his rags to riches story and how he actually became the king of rock and roll and the influencer of so many musical talents to this day. His story is relatable. As you know with your research, any person you find on a census record, you can relate that person's story or enhance it by tying in other records, not just federal records you find at the National Archives. So again, with our education programs, we like to tie in related items. And for this purpose here, we add this adorable letter from a number of Elvis fans written about Elvis to President Dwight D. Eisenhower. And this is in response to Elvis being drafted into the Army in 1958. Don't you love those hearts? Is this a letter that you can relate to in your own family? You just mentioned that Elvis Presley served in the Army. So now let's talk about common connections with military records and the military records that you have. Perhaps you have a photo of a veteran in uniform. Maybe there are current family members serving in the military. I bet that many of the family members you have don't know all the details about a particular person's service record. You can use those records, share a lot of details about their training, their service, any awards they may have received, physical descriptions about that particular veteran, and even their physical illnesses or conditions. One of the records we like to pull out and talk about in our education programs is that of Albert Gantt, a formerly enslaved person in St. Mary's County, Maryland. Albert actually ended up joining the U.S. color troops in 1864, and his veteran service record tells us that he traveled far from his original home all over the South and ended up mustering out of service in Texas two years later. We also like to talk about this record because we came across this record by accident, more or less. In the New York office we were doing research on employees of the Custom House in New York. We were looking at those employee records because we actually have our office located at the Alexander Hamilton U.S. Custom House. Looking at the custom service employment records, we found Charles T. Hudson, and his record mentioned that he was a veteran. And it was at that point we actually contacted the National Archives D.C. staff to see if we could get a copy of his compiled military service record. And as you can see from the highlight down at the bottom, Charles T. Hudson was present at the capture of Jefferson Davis on May 10th, 1865, and as a result was awarded for his service. Now, even though I never met this man, I am told that Thomas Starty had a great sense of humor and he loved a good story. I've been told this since he's my grandfather, and so I don't think he would mind if I shared this record. What happened is I actually had applied for his service record from the National Personnel Record Center in St. Louis, Missouri, and I shared his record with the family. But there was one particular section I also had a question about, and you could see it listed there on the slide. It was a question I asked my siblings, cousins, nieces, and nephews who also had never met him about who might have a similar medical condition. You can just imagine the discussion that this started with the family. Again, just another way to connect with military records. Is your veteran buried in a military cemetery? Kenneth Walker, a Brigadier General, was shot down over the Pacific Ocean in 1945 during World War II, and his body was never recovered. After doing research, his family located his service record and compiled additional information about his service using action reports and some other records. They were then able to have a headstone placed in his honor at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia. Visiting his headstone was an enormously emotional way to connect his family with him and his service. There are many ways you can honor and connect to your veteran and the service they gave. Family visits to war monuments or memorials is another very powerful way to connect. So our talk today is all about sharing and showing off your research. We just want to remind you to follow guidance on how to preserve your family records. Check out our dedicated webpage. It has never been easier to share data that you have. You can share photos. You can share digital files. You can share items via email or even on your smartphone. Now I want to share several examples on how to engage with stories of interest. Stories that are relatable. Do we have any sports fans out there? Do you have any sports fans in your family? Does the name Babe Ruth, baseball legend, former Red Sox, Yankee player Ringabel? You can share his World War I draft registration card to engage family friends. What's great to note about this document is George Herman Booth notes his occupation as baseball and his employer at Fenway Park. Has anyone in your family ever watched the movie The Sound of Music? Ever wonder how accurate the Hollywood movie is to the actual events? What happened to the Von Trop family as they left Austria? The naturalization records we have in our holdings reveal part of the story after they came to America. You can use these type of records to start a conversation with your family. It could also allow you to confirm or dispel family myths and lore. Does your family have an annual holiday tradition? Think about ways you can connect to those traditions. For my family, we love watching It's a Wonderful Life Every Year. In the story, George Bailey cannot join the Army due to his 4F status. But the actor who played him, Jimmy Stewart, was in the Air Force during World War II. So as I watched the movie this year, it reminded me it was a great conversation started to have with family. We actually have his record available in our online catalog. And sharing that file with family was a great way to connect when we were all so distant because we were quarantining at home due to the pandemic and unable to participate in our other family traditions. Do you have any readers in the family? Anyone ever read the Little House books or even watched the TV series? You can engage your family members with that story since we have a number of documents on the Ingalls family. Do you have any young kids that help around the house? The education program loves to share this document from the 1880 census of the Ingalls family. Not only because it lists all four children at home, but it also has a line where Mary, age 15, and Laura, age 13, are helping around the house. Another connection to make is through records such as our land records. So we've talked about the most popular records at the National Archives to research in. Those being passenger revival records, naturalization records, federal census records, and military records. But did you know the archives holds over 10 million land entry case files in all 30 public land states? What better way to connect than with the Homestead application of Laura Ingalls' father, Charles? And don't forget Laura Ingalls' husband, Almanza Wilder's Homestead application is also available. You can also connect relatable stories online. The next several slides will include examples of how we share on National Archives social media accounts. If you're looking for a way to connect, first and foremost, we would encourage you to look at History Hub. It is a great tool to ask questions and find answers related to research and, of course, genealogy research. It's also a great tool to learn from other questions other researchers have already posted. The responses can also be shared with your family members online. History Hub comments can also be found on the U.S. National Archives Pinterest page. So if you're on Pinterest and you have your own board dedicated to genealogy, you can save our pins on your board and share those with select people in your family. We also talk about relatable stories on social media. And so I have an example from our National Archives Facebook page. On January 27th on the International Holocaust Remembrance Day, the National Archives posted this image where a Holocaust survivor was able to identify herself as the second woman from the right. This was a post that was widely shared because of the content and the importance of finding yourself in the records of the National Archives. Again, this is a relatable story that could be shared if your family has a similar story or if your research takes you down this path. Last year was the 100th anniversary of the passing of the 19th Amendment and women's right to vote. Sharing stories about the suffrage is a great way to connect, especially if you have a suffragette in your family or maybe you have a millennial in your family who voted for the first time in the presidential election or a Gen Y family member who was learning about suffrage in school. Again, it's a relatable story. Annie Moore was the first person processed at the then newly opened Ellis Island, January 1892. Sharing her immigration story is particularly important for our young students because Annie Moore is listed as age 13 and she comes to this country with her two younger brothers, Anthony and Phillip, who were 11 and 9 respectively. And like Missy mentioned earlier, if your family came through Ellis Island and you have their arrival record or they visited Ellis Island on a family trip, this is a great way to connect. So these are just examples. And now I've told you about my grandfather and how he loved a great story. And so I'm going to show an example of my own. On the back of this postcard, my grandfather wrote, hi mom, I'm in this picture from basic training and this is me on the far right in the white shirt. So I shared this image in November because it was Veterans Day. And I thought my family members might actually like it and like the photo. But what happened was it started a larger conversation with cousins across the country about his service and so much more. So the moral of our story today is share, share and share some more. And so that brings us to the end of our presentation. And to summarize, I would ask you to consider the educational activities we have on our website. We have talked to you about ways to create common connections to connect relatable stories and showed you a few examples of how we can engage online. Whatever record you're using or researching your passion for genealogy is infectious. Share it, be creative in every way you can, laugh when you can, and certainly have fun. Now, if anyone has any questions, Missy and I are happy to answer them. Thank you so much. That was spectacularly wonderful and so many great activities. I love it. I love your personal example. So although we are wrapping up the video portion of the broadcast, we will continue to take your questions in the chat for another 10 minutes. Please stay if you are watching during the premiere broadcast. And then after May 19th, you can submit your questions to our education office at education at NARA.gov. As a reminder, the presentation's video and handout will remain available on this YouTube page. We value your opinion, so please take a minute to complete a short evaluation. You can find that link under the show more. Please note that this event is part of the Know Your Reference program. Before ending, we do want to share our gratitude for the behind the scenes staff. YouTube chat moderator today with Amber Forrester. Our audio visual staff include Jamie Atkinson, Brian Sipperly, Julie Reed, Jason Winston, and Alexis Van Dyke. And today's captioning writer is Hyme Capshoning. Thank you all. And on behalf of the National Archives, thank you for joining us. Please stay if you have questions. Submit them in the chat.