2. Consult continuously, members of your family who are still living, especially the older ones. Be sure to write names, dates and locations. Consult them several times since memory often fails them.

 3. Search homes for Bibles, letters, old dated pictures, obituaries, receipts, insurance policies and newspapers for records. If possible, get pages copied or certified.

 4. Visit family cemeteries to secure dates from tombstones, also photograph the tombstones.

 5. Read old family letters to determine whether or not names, dates and locations of your ancestors can be found.

 6. Visit courthouses or write the Clerks of Court in parishes or counties where your ancestors lived regarding wills, marriage licenses, deeds and court proceedings.

 7. Consult state bureaus of vital statistics to secure birth and death records.

 8. Church records will reveal baptismal and marriage dates and names.

 9. Consult genealogical records within the state or the National Archives, Washington, D. C. 

Select this text to see a reprint of Institutions of Memory and the Documentation of African Americans in Federal Records from Prologue: Quarterly of the National Archives and Records Administration Summer 1997, vol. 29, no. 2

 11. Check all census records for the period of time of you ancestors.

 12. Remember, genealogical practice makes perfect.

 These tips are provided courtesy of the California African-American Genealogical Society.

 Contact your local genealogical society. They're in the yellow pages. 

Classroom Activity: Origins and Identity

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