The following two sites provide a wealth of information for those wishing to learn more about their African-American ancestors:
New England Historic Genealogical Society
The New England Historic Genealogical Society (NEHGS) has long provided a great online resource for those with New England ancestors, with its members’ website. However, NEHGS has recently launched several open-access research pages, with links to various online resources and reprinted articles from their renowned journal. One of these new pages is the “African American Family History” page.This new page contains links to several pages of NEHGS content focusing on African-American research, including a “Getting Started” guide and guides to records relating to African-Americans in the NEHGS collections. The articles reprinted on the site cover much ground, including articles on African-American marriages during the slavery era, several articles on African-American Civil War service, and a few case studies.
The site also offers free access to two relevant databases: “Free Negro Heads of Families in the United States in 1830” and “People of Color in the Massachusetts State Census, 1855-1865.” These two databases will be extremely helpful for those with New England African-American ancestors. The “Featured Online Exhibit” contains pages from the account book of the commanding officer of the First Kansas Colored Volunteer Regiment. Digital images of original records are always a welcome addition to online genealogists, and rarities like this account book help to bring us closer to being able to meet the Genealogical Proof Standard online.
National Archives and Records Administration
I would like to thank my dear friend Robyn Smith of the “Reclaiming Kin” blog for reminding me of this site.
The National Archives and Records Administration has published Prologue magazine for over forty years. This magazine focuses on federal record groups (or records in federal custody, such as Confederate records and records of the District of Columbia, etc.), and each issue contains articles profiling various record groups, including how best to use them for research, and case studies where historians have done precisely that. Often these articles will provide insight not only into the general historical use of records, but also into the specific genealogical use of these records. Many issues even contain a “Genealogical Notes” column focusing specifically on genealogy.
NARA has now published almost all of its past articles on its website, including the entirety of the Summer 1997 “Special Issue on African American Research and Federal Records.” Many of the other articles specifically dealing with African-American history and genealogy are focused on using various records creating during the period of the Civil War and Reconstruction, such as military records and the records of the Freedmen’s Bureau. Federal records from this era will greatly improve your chances of success at antebellum research.
Both of these sites should be added to your online genealogy library. You will surely need to refer to the articles contained here often.
Comments
Thanks for the shout-out! And leading me to the NEHGS site, which I actually had never looked at before.
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