Courses – Page 4 – International Institute of Genealogical Studies

Keeping in Touch

Posted on December 7, 2021December 7, 2021
by Cheryl Levy
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Do you have a question about your courses or your research? Communication is so important in genealogy in order to keep abreast of constantly evolving information. The same is true within The National Institute for Genealogical Studies. As a student of The National Institute, there are various ways you can communicate with us and your fellow students (see below). We want all of our students to enjoy their learning experience. Please do not worry or fret over your courses by yourself. We are here to help you! **** NOTE: Our social media accounts are NOT monitored regularly. If you need an answer quickly, please call us on the phone. We can be reached at 1-800-580-0165, ext. #1 (North America) or 1-416-861-0165. Please leave a message. If no one answers, we will call you back. #1 By email to The National Institute**** NOTE: When contacting us, please INCLUDE your FIRST & LAST NAME, and the full COURSE TITLE (including the COUNTRY, if it is a records course). It is also helpful if you include the module number and section that title you are referring to. **** i) admin@genealogicalstudies.com – for general questions;ii) alert@genealogicalstudies.com – to advise us of broken links in your course materials and assignments — Please GIVE SPECIFIC DETAILS; i.e., provide the COURSE NAME, MODULE NUMBER, WEBSITE NAME, and URL.iii) exam@genealogicalstudies.com – questions pertaining to your course exam. #2 By email to a fellow studentWhen you view a fellow student’s public assignment SUBMISSION/ANSWER, and you would like to contact them about something in their posting, simply click on the envelope icon to the right of the student’s name. A new window will open where you can type your message. For privacy reasons, you will not see the recipient’s email address. They have the option to reply or not. #3 Attend a Virtual MeetingVIRTUAL MEETINGS ARE THE BEST PLACE TO COMMUNICATE with an instructor and fellow students. Anyone can participate! You do not have to be registered in the course to attend. When attending virtual meetings, please bring questions applicable to the topic being discussed. Watch for our emails outlining upcoming virtual meetings dates and times. Or visit our website for the full schedule. #4 Follow The National Institute’s BlogScroll down. On the right-hand side of this page, you will see Subscribe to Blog via Email. In the text box, enter your email address and click on the Subscribe button. Once subscribed, you will receive an email each time we post…

Transcription Tuesday – Italian Handwriting

On the first Monday of each month, the next rotation of our online courses begins. The National Institute for Genealogical Studies offers 230+ online courses on a wide variety of topics, providing genealogical education for those interested in beginning to research their family history, as well as professional genealogists. One of the foundational research skills for our students to develop is Transcribing. For this reason, we have created a compulsory Basic Level course (Skills: Transcribing, Abstracting & Extracting ) to equip all of our certificate students with this vital ability. However, all family history researchers, no matter what their level of expertise, should strive to acquire this core skill. As we research our family history, many of us will eventually encounter immigrant ancestors. As we document their arrival, we gain clues for their country of origin. Many times, this will involve a change of language and introduce us to records in an unfamiliar country. Time needs to spent learning about what is available and where to find more information. It is recommended to consult the FamilySearch Wiki as a launching point. Choose your country of interest. We will be using Italy Genealogy for examples today. One of the first challenges we are faced with is different languages, but also the handwriting that was used in various historical time periods, for specific record types, and even in locations or districts involved with their homeland. Be sure to study everything you can gather about the location where your research will be focused. We have developed an essential basic level course for Italian research: Italian: Language and Location to guide you through many of these challenges. From the course description: Understanding, or being able to decipher, the languages found with Italian genealogical documents is an essential skill needed to effectively research your Italian ancestors. While most records are in Italian, you will find other languages within the records depending on the history of the town or region you are researching. Emphasis is placed on reading the handwriting and how to translate and understand basic Italian records. This course is offered monthly, and is just one of the courses included with our Italian Records Certificate. Additional Helpful Italian Research Resources from FamilySearch.org: Italy Language and Handwriting Italy Handwriting Italian Genealogical Word List Italian Birth Document Translation Category: Italy Researching in records from other countries can be challenging, but utilize the tools that have been developed for your success. Italian Handwriting can be studied and transcribed.…

Family Time, Memories, Traditions

Our students at The National Institute for Genealogical Studies are preparing for the last month of courses for 2021. December is a busy month for many. Schedules and outside expectations compete for our attention. Be sure to plan your month carefully. Self-paced education takes perseverance and focus. We are here to help you succeed in meeting your genealogical education goals. The Holiday season is upon us – filled with Family Time, Traditions and Memories. It is a time to gather with extended family members and share memories of years gone by. There will be well-known family traditions mixed in with new traditions – welcoming new family members to our celebrations. It’s a good time to take note of changes in our families over the past year of 2021. As family historians, we record the BMDs as we receive the news, but the holidays are usually a time to welcome those new cousins and in-laws into your family circle. It’s a time for stories of, “Remember when….?” and photos! Take lots of photos, especially of family groups and elderly family members. And then there is the food! Traditional recipes with Grandma’s chocolate fudge – made only as she does, and Great-Aunt Mable’s dressing recipe. Be sure to record these. Find out why certain foods are served, and why these traditions were formed, and carried on year after year. Record them and preserve them as the treasures they truly are. We have courses that will give you some ideas of what to ask, with questions to dig deeper into the origins of your family traditions. Here are a few examples to put on your Wish List:Demystifying Culture & Folklore Discover Your Family History Life of Our Ancestors Research: Grandmothers, Mothers & Daughters-Tracing Women Research: Social History Writing the Genealogist’s Memoir Writing Your Family History Book Make December a month to remember! Prepare for Family Time, for sharing Memories, and for exploring your holiday Traditions. Record what you learn and document the new stories. The online education you are pursuing to preserve your family history will not only benefit your immediate family, but it will bring together extended family members as well. You may even discover some new cousins! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The National Institute for Genealogical Studies offers quality online education with over 230+ courses to choose from. Some of our courses are topic/country-specific, or provide insight into research methodology, while others are skill-building courses to maximize your research time. The first Monday of a…

Transcription Tuesday – Scottish Handwriting

As you pursue your family history research, you will at some point, encounter difficult-to-read handwriting on a document of interest. Therefore, transcriptions should become a regular part of your research projects. Transcription Skills are developed by transcribing; there is no shortcut. Transcribing documents gives opportunity to make a clear and easy-to-read transcription for future reference and analysis. The National Institute for Genealogical Studies offers a variety of course topics for developing these skills through record groups from various countries. To become familiar with the handwriting of a certain time period, and in particular location, take some time to find out what script was being used. It may surprize some new researchers that not only were there different handwriting styles, but also scripts used only in certain settings. Finding these general rules will save a lot of time. Our Basic Level course: Skills: Transcribing, Abstracting & Extracting is a great place to start to develop your Transcribing Skills. As you go deeper and further back in time, you will encounter unfamiliar text and handwriting scripts. Our Advanced Level course: Palaeography: Reading & Understanding Historical Documents will help you to meet these challenges and to eventually master the handwriting you will encounter in historical documents. If you have Scottish Research, you will need to spend time exploring this website: Scottish Hanwriting.com, hosted by the National Records of Scotland (NRS). It is an online resource that provides tutorials for palaeography in the Scottish documents you will need to access. In our Scottish Records Certificate program, we have courses that will examine topics requiring you to develop solid transcription skills. Here are a few examples. Scottish: Old Parish Registers – Handwriting in OPRs will challenge you! Scottish: Wills and Testaments – Legal Terminology and Inventories Scottish: Special Aspects of Scottish Research – It is recommended to complete the Palaeography course before registering for this course. Some helpful websites for Scottish Handwriting challenges: ScotlandsPeople – Reading Older Handwriting (Palaeography) Check out other Research Guides on the left-side menu of this page. ScotlandsPlaces – Learn about Old Handwriting FamilySearch – Scotland Handwriting Remember – there are no shortcuts. But the more you practice, the easier it will become. Transcription Skills are learned by practicing. Become familiar with the handwriting of the time period and location where you are researching. Take the time to develop your skills and then discover what is really in those documents! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ As researchers, we have found that there are many…

Transcription Tuesday – Handwriting

Transcriptions are a regular part of our research projects, and the key to recording every piece of information in a genealogical document. Transcribing Skills are only honed by consistent practice – studying and transcribing a specific collection of documents gives opportunity to become familiar with the handwriting of a certain time period, and in particular, a specific clerk or registrar. The National Institute for Genealogical Studies provides opportunity for developing these skills through course assignments based on a wide variety of documents, including record groups from various countries. As we are researching, we encounter many handwriting scripts, as well as individual styles. Take your time when studying a document. Look beyond just your entry of interest. Review the whole document. Check the same letters in other words on the same page. If the heading is difficult to read, browse the previous pages, as well as the following pages to see if you can find a clearer entry. By studying these entries, you will become familiar with the handwriting. Some entries are written in beautiful script, with wonderful flourishes, making them a pleasure to browse. Others we struggle to decipher. Isabella may stump some transcribers for a while, but eventually, we conquer the challenge. Signatures can present another dilemma to transcribe, as they often are stylized and do not always match the rest of the handwriting on the document. Try to study several signatures to verify. Finding the signature for your ancestor is a good way to confirm your document belongs to the same person. It can even be used to distinguish between two or more individuals with the same name. Be sure to save those signatures for future use. Vital records are good for comparing similar names and places, and also individual letters as the same person is recording several entries for that location. As our research takes us farther back into earlier records, the handwriting can become more difficult. American Colonial Town Records are a treasure trove of information, but it takes time to be comfortable enough to transcribe the original documents. Some entries are simply one line as the marriage record of Ezra Perry & Elizabeth Burge in 1651 (1); or the death record for Rebecca Perry in 1738 (2). The 1729/30 will of Ezra Perry (3) will take patience to transcribe, but is good practice. Creating a simple cheat sheet with the alphabet used often proves to be very…