Genealogical Societies – Preserving Your Family Tree



You have worked for some time to gather and document your ancestors in the family tree. You might have stories about individuals, added to the family history. This is quite a collection and needs to be preserved for future generations.

Of course, you have many copies made and send to relatives for them to keep. That should be digital and print copies.

Another great place to donate your family tree and stories are the genealogical societies of any the counties that your ancestors lived, including your own present-day location. Include especially the home counties and towns where y our ancestors lived, going back as far as you can.

Why genealogical or even local historical societies? First, yes do give copies to relatives BUT all your hard work in genealogical research and all the photographs and heirlooms you’ve collected to one day end up in an antique’s store or trash heap. Donating it to a genealogical or historical society will ensure the protection of all you’ve done with the family history work.

Next, you need protection for the family history from natural disasters. The archives of genealogical and historical societies are generally well-protected against such things, and provisions are made to move the collections to new, better locations if need be before a disaster can destroy or damage them. Your work and heirlooms are safer in these places than anywhere else you could keep them.

Sharing your research by donating copies to a genealogical or historical society means anyone can access it who wants or needs to, such as distant family members, people researching local history or the residents of a particular time and place, will check out the hometown genealogical and historical societies.

Besides local county and town genealogical and historical societies there are also regional and national genealogical and historical societies. This is a good idea if your ancestors lived in numerous states and regions across America. You might also want to see about any such similar societies overseas if your ancestors were more recent immigrants from other nations.

On selecting a society, investigate them. Talk to their curator about their security, how they keep their records, what is shared, any questions you might have.

Photos: National Genealogical Society logo, the Cheboygan Society and Logan County, Ohio Society.

Related Familytree.com Blogs:

Local Genealogical Society

A Genealogical Will

Family History Ideas

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