OBJECTIVES
Students will:
Follow simple steps for doing genealogical research.
VOCABULARY
Archive: a place in which public records or historical documents are preserved.
Repository: a place, room or container where something is stored, such as written records.
Historical and Genealogical Societies: organized groups of individuals with common interests in preserving and making available for use records of historical and genealogical value.
EPISODE FIVE: LIBRARIES AND ARCHIVES
Episode Overview
In this episode you will be introduced to different places and steps to find genealogical records. Part one introduces Tom Madrid. He found records of his Hispanic heritage dating back hundreds of years in the United States by starting at his local library in Colorado. In part two, our co-hosts Jim and Terry Willard will take you on a tour of the Family History Library in Salt Lake City, Utah. While there, you will hear what experts and users of the library have to say about important steps in doing genealogical research.
Before Viewing the Episode
- Duplicate the following:
-- Student handout on the next page.
-- Family Group Record
-- Research Log - Read aloud the EPISODE OVERVIEW and OBJECTIVE.
- Briefly review the VOCABULARY words with your students.
After Viewing the Episode
Activity
Follow simple steps for doing genealogical research
- Distribute the:
-- Student handout on the next page.
-- Blank copy of Family Group Record (front side only).
-- Blank copy of Research Log. - Explain to the students that in this activity
they will follow the simple steps for doing
genealogical research. Their research objective
will be to find information in the library to create
a family group record for either:
-- John F. Kennedy, 35th President of the United States, as a husband with his wife and family.
or
-- John F. Kennedy, as a child in his father Joseph Patrick Kennedy’s family. - Have the students fill out the top part of the
Research Log, for whichever objective you and/or
they decide to research.
note: You may want to assign half of the class to find information about John F. Kennedy’s family and the other half of the class to find his father Joseph P. Kennedy’s family. - Encourage the students to go to the library to locate sources of information about their research objective.
- Have them write a description of their sources and the results of their search on their Research Log.
- After the students do their research, have a class discussion to discover what information they were able to find. Compare their information with the information on the Family Group Record for John F. Kennedy’s family or his father, Joseph P. Kennedy’s family.
