Home Sources Outside the Home

Not every family is fortunate enough to possess a collection of home sources. For those who have scarcely a photograph or a piece of heirloom jewelry, the initial steps will include a search for artifacts or manuscripts that may have been moved to other places.

A distant relative, a former neighbor, or a one-time business associate of the family may possess photographs or correspondence exchanged a generation or more ago. Or these persons may have knowledge of more distant holders of such artifacts. A researcher who practices tact, patience, and persistence could discover a treasure trove of memorabilia in another's possession. If so, do not expect instant access to what may be valued materials. Instead, establish yourself as a caring, considerate seeker of information and one who is willing to share what you have acquired.

Flea markets, antique dealers, and county fairs in the region from which a family came are all potential places to find materials that, even if not specifically linked to your family, can reveal much about the era and location in which they lived. The notebook of Reverend John Webster Bailey illustrates the possibilities. Rev. Bailey painstakingly recorded entries on more than nine hundred names of members of churches in Indiana, New York, and Vermont from May 1882 through September 1890. Mary Balderston, a family historian from West Chicago, Illinois, purchased this book at a local flea market in 1976. The entries identify those who were baptized, married, or buried by Rev. Bailey during his ministry in Presbyterian, Reformed, and Congregational churches. Entries for the Cambridge City Presbyterian Church were published in "Presbyterian Church, Cambridge City, Indiana. Rev. J. W. Bailey, Pastor," Hoosier Genealogist 22 (1) (March 1982); they proved helpful to researchers of that era and locale.

Do not overlook the possibility of finding what you seek in an archive or museum. When visiting the hometown or city where family members once lived, take time to view photographs or collectibles exhibited by area museums or historical societies. These agencies may hold important collections of manuscript materials that might include Civil War correspondence, business records of companies that employed relatives, or the private papers of former neighbors who were prominent in the community.

There are a number of good finding aids to locate collections of family materials. The National Union Catalog of Manuscript Collections, described in chapter 2, Databases, Indexes, and Other Finding Aids, is one aid. In particular, the two-volume Index to Personal Names in the National Union Catalog of Manuscript Collections 1959-1984 is helpful.

Andrea Hinding, Women's History Sources: A Guide to Archives and Manuscripts Collections in the United States (New York: R.R. Bowker, 1979), indexes collections by the geographical location and the name of the female most prominently featured in the collection. American Diaries: An Annotated Bibliography of Published American Diaries and Journals (Detroit: Gale Research Co., 1983) is another source for locating manuscript materials no longer in private possession.

The Library of Virginia, formerly known as the Virginia State Library and Archives, holds more than 4,000 family Bible records and registers that reflect Virginia connections. The library has been diligent in adding to this collection, which is housed at Eleventh Street at Capitol Square, Richmond, VA 23219-3491.

Some collections of Bible records from other areas have been indexed and published. Memory Aldridge Lester, in Old Southern Bible Records, Transcriptions of Births, Deaths and Marriages from Family Bibles, Chiefly of the 18th and 19th Centuries (Baltimore: Clearfield Co., 1990), transcribed genealogically significant data from the family Bibles of 581 Southern families.

Libraries have been the recipients of published and manuscript family histories. These include the Family History Library of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS church) in Salt Lake City, Utah, the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C., and the Newberry Library in Chicago. See chapter 2 for information about accessing these collections. Watch for news of less-well-known collections in genealogical periodicals.

Private, local museums can offer serendipity of a similar nature. A German immigrant named Curt Teich spent the 1890s photographing the United States. He printed his pictures as postcards at his business establishment in Chicago. The Teich Company became the largest postcard printer of its kind in the world, producing cards for more than seventy-five years. The business archives of more than 320,000 postcards and the original production files are now housed in a small museum in Lakewood Forest Preserve near Wauconda, Illinois. Perhaps a card, when fully catalogued by geographic area, would reveal something about the neighborhood in which your family lived.

Your personal knowledge and memories, the interviews you conduct, and the home sources you locate are the first steps in family history research. Findings from such seemingly humble origins will thrust you into the larger arena of public records and, perhaps, more detailed facts, but you will return to these beginning steps often-each time with a new awareness of the information previously collected.