Life in the Past Lane: Beginning Genealogy

Sue VerHoef leads a genealogy session for members at the Atlanta History Center on Saturday, Oct 17, at 10:30 AM. It's called Life in the Past Lane: Beginning Genealogy, and it's built for people who are curious about their ancestors but have no idea where to start. VerHoef walks you through which online sources to trust and how to avoid getting lost on the information superhighway, so you can actually build a family tree instead of just spinning your wheels.

VerHoef knows the territory: she's the former Director of Oral History and Genealogy at the Atlanta History Center, so this is her home turf. The session is listed as a members event, and it's part of a larger support system for family history research at the Center. If you're already digging into your roots, the Kenan Research Center provides onsite access to premium genealogy sites like Ancestry.com, Fold3.com, and Newspapers.com, along with a library of genealogy books covering the original thirteen colonies and all the Southeastern states. There are also thousands of manuscript and photograph collections, oral histories, maps, and other archival materials to work with.

Beyond the books and databases, the Kenan Research Center holds over 800 Genealogy Subject Files and more than 3,200 Personality Subject Files. It's also a founding partner with the Library of Congress in the Veterans History Project, which has collected more than 800 interviews with veterans from World War II through the Global War on Terror. The Center runs genealogy programs and workshops quarterly, so this session is one of several ways to get help with your research throughout the year.

The session is on Saturday, Oct 17, at 10:30 AM at the Atlanta History Center's main campus, 130 West Paces Ferry Road NW, Atlanta, GA 30305. It's a members event.