Tuesday's Tip~Gettin' By with Help from Our Friends~Toni Carrier

This time our Tuesday's Tip comes from Toni Carrier of  Lowcountry Africana:

6 Tips for Researching in Archives

Toni Carrier

1.      Don’t overlook archival resources in your family research. Family papers and other unpublished manuscripts may hold treasures for your research!

2.      Use ArchiveGrid (www.archivegrid.org) to locate manuscript collections of interest.

3.      Before traveling to an archive, contact the archivist to give them your visit dates, and tell them what you are researching. Archivists know their collections well and can point you to collections that may be of interest to you.

4.      If the archive’s catalog is online, do some searching ahead of your trip to identify collections you would like to view so you can make the most of your research time when you arrive.

5.      Be aware that archives may have restrictions on what you can take into the research room. You may be asked to leave other belongings in lockers onsite.

6.      Always handle archival materials carefully. Have fun and happy ancestor hunting!

Toni Carrier, M.A., is the founding director of Lowcountry Africana (www.lowcountryafricana.com), a free website dedicated to African American genealogy and history in SC, GA and FL, and co-founder, with Angela Walton Raji, of Mapping the Freedmen's Bureau (www.mappingthefreedmensbureau.com), an online finding aid for researching in Freedmen's Bureau records.

Thanks for these terrific tips on researching in the archives, Toni! Time for another research trip!

Are we kin? Need help with your research? Please contact me.

Together we can find our people.

Thanks so much for stopping by!