Every family historian dreams of traveling to his or her ancestral homeland. Searching the indexes, records, and compilations online or at your local family history center just doesn't carry the same weight as onsite research in an old courthouse or cemetery.

But there's more to taking a research trip than checking into the hotel and finding the local cemetery. A successful genealogical research trip takes a lot of planning and forethought. But while it may be a lot of work, when you combine the adventure of travel with the ancestral chase, most of us are enthusiastic enough to pack our bags—today!

Plan Ahead
Before you hit the road, a little preparation will get you a long way. First, think about where you should visit. Is the place you have in your mind really the place that will further your research the most? You may want to contact different locations for information on the area, the courthouse, and the historical society. The convention and visitor bureau may also have a website that will be helpful.

Once you determine your destination, it's time to get down to business. The more you learn about the archives and courthouse before your trip, the better your limited time onsite can be utilized.

Contact the county courthouse or local library about research opportunities in the area. This will help you zero in on the records you'll need to access when you get there. Check on genealogical societies in that area and ask about membership, publications, meetings, and other resources. You may even be able to schedule your trip so you can attend the local society meeting and share information with its members.

What else can you accomplish before your trip? Maybe someone in your local genealogical society has traveled to the same area and is willing to share some insight. Plan a meeting in which you can discuss your ancestral area together and learn everything you can about it.

You may find that some of the records you thought would only be available onsite may be available closer to home. Visit the genealogical library and a university library in your area if you haven't already. Go to your state historical society and your local family history center where records you need may be available on microfilm. Maybe someone has transcribed a book of wills for the county and a copy is in a nearby genealogical library.

Remember, once you get to your destination, you'll want to concentrate on the records that haven't been microfilmed or published. It will be much more difficult, if not impossible in some cases, to access those records when you return home.

Get Organized
Now pull out your genealogy files and review the data you already have on this particular family. Is the data on your family group sheets or software program up-to-date? Organize your files, review obituaries, reread death certificates, and don't forget the letters Aunt Celia sent. As you review these, jot down notes on the information you will be seeking.

Depending on your breadth of knowledge about the family you will be researching, you may want to review the daily life, economics, politics, and religious flavor of the area. You may even find that creating a timeline of dates and events in your family's history will be helpful. Include surnames, dates, places of residence, and details that may affect the record search while you are in the area. If the courthouse and records were destroyed in 1858, note that information.

You may want to consider hiring a professional researcher in the area to do some advance footwork, provide a consultation, or familiarize you with the records and make suggestions on how your limited time might be most productive. Compared to travel expenses, the cost of a few hours of help may be well worth it. A consultation can be done by telephone or e-mail beforehand, or in person while you are there.

Develop an Itinerary
Once you've got a handle on the research portion of your trip, prepare a detailed itinerary with hotel and other travel arrangements. Include the telephone numbers and hours of operation for the places you will visit in case someone back home needs to contact you. List your day-by-day schedule, but build in flexibility. Remember that many facilities have hours that vary throughout the year.

As you prepare your itinerary, regardless of whether you are driving or flying, you will have many arrangements and reservations to make. Try to book hotels that are close to restaurants and to the facilities where you will be doing research. If you plan to study in the hotel as well, check on the quality of workspace in the room before you reserve it.

Create a Packing List
The easiest and most practical way to pack for a trip is to determine what you will need and leave the excess behind. For genealogists, that is not always an easy task. You'll need other ways to help you get organized.

If you plan to go on numerous research trips, keep a packing list that you update for each trip. You can easily store your packing list on your computer. Then just print a fresh copy for each trip and use a highlighter to cross off items as they are packed. You may even want to arrange your list by category and then alphabetically within each category.

Don't forget an extension cord, a clipboard for note-taking, pencils, stapler, file folders, magnifying glass, sunglasses, umbrella, flashlight, and other research items. Be sure you don't pack valuable original records; make copies of them before you go.

If you are the type of person to send postcards, prepare sheets of self-adhesive, pre-typed mailing labels for everyone you should send a postcard to so you don't use valuable time on the road addressing postcards. Then, when you get to your destination, buy your postcards early so you can focus all your energy on your family history research.

Research Onsite
When you arrive at your ancestral hometown, take a good look around and walk the streets. Get acquainted with the research facility. Find the restrooms, learn how the microfilm readers work. Take a look at the indexes and open-shelf material available before you burrow into a microfilm reader. Make a quick map so you can find your way back to the parking lot and the hotel.

There might be a reunion, a genealogy conference, or a town festival that coincides with the dates of your research trip. Plan to attend these events so you have some fun out of doors as well. You may also enjoy visiting the local museums; likely they will provide perspective on the family you are researching.

Coordinate your itinerary carefully if you are traveling with a spouse, family members, or friends. Let your travel companions know in advance what you want to do with your limited research time. You want to be successful in your genealogical research, but you also want your travel companions to enjoy themselves. If they have something fun to do, it is less likely they will be unhappy when you go to the historical society for just one more afternoon.

An itinerary will help keep you focused on what you came to do; but things can change it. Roads have detours. Employees take sick days. You can't plan ahead for a fire alarm in the courthouse or a furnace malfunction at the library. All of these things ignore the schedules of out-of-town researchers. Even if you called the courthouse two months before your trip to make sure it had the probate files for 1840–1870, you may discover when you get there that the records have been sent out for microfilming or are now stored at an offsite location. Have alternate plans. Hope for the rare occasions where you find what you need in the first hour at a courthouse, but don't expect such success.

While researching, don't throw away the bad copies you make. You'll want to review them in the evening to make sure you didn't miss the information you are seeking. During the day, keep careful notes. Record the book or microfilm in which you find each document.

Get up from the microfilm reader or table every hour or so to rest your eyes. You'll stay more alert if you do this and if you eat during the day. Also, fresh air works wonders on the brain. And leave a few minutes before closing time so the librarians and clerks don't have to herd you out. They will be happier with you the next day!

Coming Home
The time of departure will arrive more quickly than you anticipate. If you're flying home, don't check all your new research with your luggage. Carry some of it on the plane with you because you have another list to make. This list will be of things you need to do when you are back home.

An excellent way to capture your research trip on paper is to write a brief summary of your trip. Then file the information you've gathered, update your packing list, write thank-you notes, and begin to plan for the next trip. If you have energy after that, take a minute to relax and reflect. You've accomplished a lot.

Onsite genealogical research is a lot of work, but the steps of preparing for a research trip outlined here will help you organize the work into a cycle and get you to focus your search on one location and group of families.

You'll be happy that you took the time to get organized before your trip and that you stayed organized on your trip. Now, on to your next family history destination!

Helpful Travel Resources
Balhuizen, Anne Ross. Searching on Location: Planning a Research Trip. Ancestry, 1992.

Bentley, Elizabeth Petty. County Courthouse Book, second edition. Genealogical Publishing Co., 1995.

Directory of Historical Organizations in the United States and Canada. Altimira, 2001.

Warren, James W. and Paula Stuart Warren. Getting the Most Mileage From Genealogical Research Trips. 3rd ed. Warren Research and Publishing, 1998.

Federation of Genealogical Societies Membership Directory
www.fgs.org Click on Federation Member Societies/FGS Society Hall

World Chamber of Commerce Directory (Updated annually)

International Association of Convention and Visitor Bureaus
www.iacvb.org

Travel Guide
www.officialtravelguide.com

Paula Stuart Warren, CGRS, is a professional genealogist, consultant, writer, and lecturer. She has lectured all across the United States and is a course coordinator at the annual Salt Lake Institute of Genealogy. She is co-author of Your Guide to the Family History Library: How to Access the World's Largest Genealogy Resource.

Return to July/August 2004 issue of Ancestry Magazine.