“Getting Started on Your Family History Manuscript.”

This Zoom genealogy class is for people who have amassed a lot of family information and are wondering what to do next.  It will not teach introductory genealogy or memoir writing.  Some of the types of manuscripts to be considered include ancestral reports, descendancy reports, biographies, and edited letters or diaries.  Each class will be one to two hours long, depending on the topic.  Weekly assignments will be given, and in six weeks, students will have all of the major parts of a family-history manuscript and an abbreviated version of the content.

The cost will be $10 per person, which will go to the UMW.  A minimum of 6 people will be required for the class; a maximum of 12 Zoom connections will be accepted.  A preliminary Zoom tutorial will be offered if needed.  Check out the complete syllabus for topics and dates.  Enroll by emailing or phoning Regina Hunter or Terri Link.

Syllabus

1.  September 12, 10:00 a.m. - noon.  The class will begin early for some students if the Zoom tutorial is necessary.
This class will discuss ancestry reports, descendant reports, biographies, and edited letters or diaries.  We’ll give you hints for transcribing tapes, digital images, or audio recordings and for proofing OCR.  During the week,

• Decide what kind of report you want.  Who is your audience?  Yourself?  Your immediate family?  Posterity?  Is it a gift for a special occasion?
  
• Are you going to include memoirs?  Are you writing a separate book about one person? 
  
• Are you going to include family photos or other (public-domain!) photos or maps that help show the lives you ancestors led?
  
• Are you going to include all data about everybody?  (This is not recommended—it’s better just to include citations and references.)
  
• Are you going to excerpt or report on bios you find in books?  (Note:  you can excerpt from anything that was published earlier than 1924, with references.  Do not excerpt anything from sources published in 1989 or later without written permission from the copyright holder, because this would violate U.S. copyright law.  In the U.S., material is copyrighted at the moment of creation, with or without a copyright mark!  Between 1924 and 1989, things are a bit tricky, and you need to investigate the source carefully to see whether it is copyrighted.)
  

  2.  September 19, 10:00 a.m. – noon.  If any class members are not already using genealogy software, or are unhappy with their software, this class will present some options.  Class time will be spent on the importance of entering all available data, the importance of including citations and sources, a primer on writing citations and sources, and the pros and cons of web addresses as sources.  During the week:

• If you don’t have genealogy software, choose one and download it.
  
• Enter your available data for a minimum of three generations, or assemble all your materials for a biography or for a diary or letters to be edited. 
  
• Include sources!  
  

3.  September 26, 10:00 a.m. – noon.  In this class, Terri and Regina will try to show the report options for each software package that students have said they are using.  During the week,

• Decide on your format.
  
• Figure out how your software prints a report, and create a draft. 
  
  • Option 1 (recommended):  Print to file.
  • Option 2 (for students who are really uncomfortable working on screen):  Print on paper.  Don’t forget page numbers! 
    
• Check everything against your original sources.
  
• If you are preparing the final product with your word processor, how easily does it incorporate footnotes, images, etc.?
  
• What do you like about the report format?  What don’t you like?  Check your software’s options to see if you can make changes, e.g., omitting LDS ordinances.
  

4.  October 3, 10:00 a.m. – noon.  This class will discuss how to decide what’s missing from your report and some of the more obvious choices for finding new information at home in your spare time.  Family histories are never complete.  The purpose of your manuscript will be to present the current status of your research.  Nevertheless, you may notice gaps in your draft that are quick and easy to fill.  During the week, check for low-hanging fruit:

• Do you notice missing information that you know you have?  Find it and enter it into the software, not the draft.
  
• Are there obviously missing records that could be easy to find, e.g., U.S. Census for 1860 when you already have 1850 and 1870?
  
• Has it been a while since you checked findagrave, ancestry, familysearch, books.google, and so on?  Check them; enter new data; don’t forget sources.
  
• Do not confuse online family trees created by other genealogists with low-hanging fruit.  You are likely to end up with a poisoned apple.  You might use these as clues, but you must check every detail for yourself (which takes time).  Anything that advertises itself as a “fast” or “automatic” way to build your tree will introduce errors.  Trust us on this.
  
• Make notes for yourself on future research topics that will require more time, travel, etc., than you can do for this manuscript.
   

5.  October 10, 10:00 a.m. – noon.  This class will demonstrate how to prepare a complete manuscript.  During the week,

• Prepare your cover title, title page, TOC, Foreword or Preface, Indexes, Bibliography or Sources, copyright notice (not required, but helpful to readers), Acknowledgements, Dedication, Frontispiece, and Errata, as appropriate.   
  
• Are you going to do print or digital?
  
• If print:  what kind of binding?  what kind of covers?  How many copies?  Home, print shop, or print on demand?  If it’s a gift, how special do you want the binding?
  
• If digital:  CD?  Thumb drive?  Zip file?
  
• Make sure you have more than one copy, located in more than one place.
  
• Prepare your abbreviated final manuscript for publication.  Include all the parts that you plan to use in your final (expanded) manuscript.  
  
• Decide what you are most proud of and what you want to tell the class about it next week.
  

6.  October 17, 10:00 a.m. – noon.  As a last class meeting, each student will have FIVE (5!) minutes to talk about the report they have prepared and show it off to the class.