HathiTrust is one of the most powerful and overlooked genealogy tools on the internet. Containing millions of digitized books, journals, government documents, local histories, city directories, school reports, and genealogical society publications, it rivals — and frequently exceeds — Google Books in usefulness for family history research. What makes HathiTrust exceptional is its focus on: […]
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 David Rumsey Map Collection is one of the premier free resources for historical cartography. While it is widely known among map historians, most genealogists have only scratched the surface of what this site can do. It provides tools to visualize the exact world your ancestors lived in—land boundaries, migration routes, towns that no longer […]
Introduction: Ever wondered what talents, skills, or passions your ancestors were known for? County fairs were community showcases—places where farmers, homemakers, schoolchildren, and local craftsmen competed for bragging rights that were proudly recorded in the newspaper. Prize lists captured everything from the best corn and largest pumpkin to finest needlework, fastest horses, strongest oxen, and […]
Church records go far beyond baptisms, marriages, and burials. Many congregations — especially Presbyterian, Methodist, Baptist, Congregational, Lutheran, Reformed, and early frontier churches — kept session minutes, membership rolls, and discipline records. These documents contain revealing details about residence, relationships, conversions, migrations, community disputes, moral expectations, and the everyday lives of members. For genealogists, these […]
Over the past few decades, thanks to volunteers, librarians, and archivists, many indexes to obituary information and transcriptions of obituaries from newspapers have been provided for free online. These searchable indexes provide the location in old newspapers where the obituary can be found. Sometimes the scanned newspaper clipping is included. Remember, you can always find online […]
Over the past few decades, thanks to volunteers, librarians, and archivists, many indexes to obituary information and transcriptions of obituaries from newspapers have been provided for free online. These searchable indexes provide the location in old newspapers where the obituary can be found. Sometimes the scanned newspaper clipping is included. And remember you can always find […]
School district records are an overlooked but exceptionally rich source of genealogical information. Created to track students, teachers, funding, attendance, and local administration, these records can reveal names, ages, residences, guardians, occupations, migrations, family structures, and even social history details not found in censuses or vital records. Because school districts often kept their own ledgers […]
ArchiveGrid is a powerful but underused discovery tool containing more than 5 million archival collection descriptions from libraries, historical societies, museums, and university archives worldwide. For genealogists, ArchiveGrid is one of the best ways to locate manuscript collections, diaries, letters, photographs, organizational records, business papers, and local history materials related to families, towns, occupations, and […]
This past week (November 28, 2025 to December 4, 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 – 92 Total ✅ Video Guides – 0 New Videos – 19 Total ✅ […]
Over the past few decades, thanks to volunteers, librarians, and archivists, many indexes to obituary information and transcriptions of obituaries from newspapers have been provided for free online. These searchable indexes provide the location in old newspapers where the obituary can be found. Sometimes the scanned newspaper clipping is included. Remember, you can always find online […]