31 Ways to Make the Most of National Family History Month

August is here, which means Australia and New Zealand’s National Family History Month is here. The launch has happened, the events are underway, and you may well have attended a talk or two already.

While there’s over 200 events scheduled, unfortunately not everyone is able to attend onsite events for various reasons, but even so there are still plenty of ways you can celebrate and be involved with National Family History Month.

First up I do have to give big a shout-out to my good geniefriend Shauna Hicks, who originally came up with this idea of having a 31 ideas list few years ago for National Family History Month. And I must say I loved it. I even printed out the list, and ticked them off as I did them. This list is not a copy of Shauna’s but rather one that I’ve made up, but click on her name above for even more suggestions.

Have a read through the list, see what you’d like to achieve, and count what you’ve done at the end of the month. You might be surprised.

1. Contact a genealogy, family history or historial society near you
2. Visit your local State Archives or library
3. Write your life story (or at least begin it!) (click here for some topic suggestions)
4. Interview a relative about their life story
5. Hold a family reunion (it doesn’t have to be a big one, even a catchup with a reli or two)
6. Attend a family or local history talk, seminar or information session
7. Label some family photos
8. Scan some of your photos
9. Most genies I know have “piles of paperwork” (myself included). So filing is a must. However filing is never a fun job, but do it in small doses, and it’s do-able
10. Read a genealogy magazine (or emagazine)
11. Read a genealogy book (or ebook)
12. Create a to-do list of family-history related things you’d like to achieve this week/this month/this year – it will help you focus
13. Add another few names to your family tree
14. Photograph and document the story of an heirloom
15. Create at least a 4 generation chart showing your family
16. Note an ancestors ‘day’ (birth, marriage or death) that occurred during August, and highlight it
17. Order a certificate (or other original record)
18. Visit an area with family connections
19. Visit a cemetery
20. Watch a webinar, there’s lots to learn
21. Listen to a podcast, again SO much to learn from them
22. Read a few Aussie genealogy blogs – there’s an awesome bunch of bloggers out there. Here’s a list of 50 of them.
23. Many people use Ancestry, but not the others. So why not try a different one. You never know what you’ll find as they’re not all the same (Findmypast, MyHeritage, TheGenealogist)
24. When did you last visit Cyndi’s List? If you can’t remember, it’s too long, so go and recheck it out
25. FamilySearch has billions of records, all FREE. Do you use it? If no, it’s time to do so
26. Trove is the National Library of Australia’s website, which includes millions of digitised old newspapers, use it to discover an article about your family
27. And while you’re on Trove, take a few moments to do some text correcting of the old newspapers. Every correction helps someone else find something
28. Take a DNA test
29. Even better, convince a relative to take a DNA test
30. Discover how useful Facebook is for genealogy by downloading the latest list for Australian genealogy
31. Remember to check out NFHM website for events in your area

Happy National Family History Month everyone.

Enjoy August, and enjoy your family history … as a geniefriend of mine said “If You Think Family History is Boring, You’re Doing it Wrong”. So very true!

Follow what’s happening with National Family History Month on Facebook, or by following the hashtag #NFHM2018.

 

One Response to “31 Ways to Make the Most of National Family History Month”

1. Anna GRAVES says:

   August 14, 2018 at 1:04 pm

   Great list for FHM and the whole year round!

   Reply