The Vitals section of the newspaper is the most pursued by genealogy newspaper researchers – primarily because that is where death notices and obituaries reside. But there are more than just obits in this important section. The Quicksheet discusses the keys to getting the most for your family history research out of the Vitals section, […]
Author: Kenneth R Marks
Kenneth R Marks was born and educated in the San Francisco Bay Area, receiving a BS in Mathematics in 1968. His career was in Information Technology; with the last 20 Years as a software executive with Boeing, Pearson, and NASA. His genealogy career began in 2004. He is an expert in newspaper research for genealogy, as well as additional genealogy topics. He regularly conducts webinars on the subject and has authored three genealogy books. See the About page for more details.
The Ancestor Hunt, founded in 2008, is focused on helping genealogy and family history researchers of all skill levels to achieve their goals, by providing links to free online genealogy collections, and search tips and techniques, largely via easy-to-understand Quick Reference Guides.
The Digital Library of Appalachia (DLA) is a free, regionally focused digital repository that brings together primary-source materials from Appalachia into one searchable website. While it is not a genealogy database in the traditional sense, it contains a wide variety of digitized materials that can directly support family history research—especially for families who lived in […]
The Civil War Soldiers and Sailors Database (CWSS) is one of the most widely used — and frequently misunderstood — Civil War research tools. It does not contain full-service records, pension files, or images. Instead, it functions as a name-and-unit identification database designed to answer a critical first question: Did this person serve in the […]
The American Battle Monuments Commission (ABMC) maintains burial and memorial records for U.S. service members who died outside the United States, primarily during: If a U.S. service member died overseas and was not returned home, the ABMC is often the only centralized burial record available. For genealogists, the ABMC database is essential for: Download the […]
The National Cemetery Administration (NCA), part of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, maintains burial records for millions of U.S. veterans and eligible family members buried in VA national cemeteries and other federally administered burial grounds. For genealogists, the NCA is most valuable for: The Nationwide Gravesite Locator is the key search engine that makes […]
Finding information and articles in newspapers about your ancestors is incredibly rewarding. And the amount of information about your ancestors in old newspapers is likely more than we can find. But if you are not careful you can make assumptions about what is in ink on the newsprint and foul up your research because of […]
The SAR Patriot Research System is one of the most authoritative — and least understood — genealogy databases available online. It is not a general military database, and it is not a cemetery website. Instead, it is a lineage-society research tool created to document men and women who rendered qualifying service during the American Revolutionary […]
This past week (December 12, 2025 to December 18, 2025), the following additions were made to The Newspaper Research Academy: ✅ Free Resources – 0 New Articles were added – 83 Total ✅ Research Guides – 2 New Guides were added – 96 Total ✅ Video Guides – 0 New Videos – 19 Total ✅ […]
I have been researching online historical newspaper sites for several years, both the free ones as well as the subscription-based sites. Their software capabilities, independent of the size and quality of their scanned collections, break down into two parts: 1. How do you search the site and find “stuff” 2. How do you download and save the […]
Google Books remains one of the most powerful — and most misunderstood — genealogy tools available online. It contains tens of millions of digitized books, including local histories, county biographies, city directories, church publications, military histories, government reports, school catalogs, and family genealogies. However, the Google Books interface has changed significantly over the years. Despite […]