Genealogy Reading - Collecting Free Material

Most genealogists are on a budget and ordering genealogy publications from societies is usually limited. Many of us belong to societies that do include ordering the publications of magazines, newsletters and quarterlies from various resources. The main problem with this is that our time in the society research facility is usually restricted to classes we attend or direct research of an ancestral line. We usually do not or are unable to take home with us copies there for member use. Today it seems many societies are removing these publications from their collections as they are out of space and/or the publications may be found online for easier access.


Genealogists are collectors of family artifacts, pictures, books both related to our research or how to books to improve the research that we do, and some publications. Last Saturday while at our local society, the Genealogical Forum of Oregon, they had a large collection of such publications on the free table. Remember, free is a very good price!

Looking over what was there several copies piqued my interest. With my large genealogy bag in tow, every empty crevice was filled with the selected copies. Mind you the free collection left behind was much larger than the few in my now very full bag. When returning home someone else had to be enlisted to carry the bag up the stairs. Then the fun began when extracting the publications and organizing them into an orderly pile for future reading.

Below you will find a list of some of these items that were read this spring. My main goal is to read and discard those that do not meet future research needs. In reading them there is an interest in how they compile the publications and also the chance occasion of finding information on one of my research families. There may come a time that a change in my office space will also dictate how many of these publications can be kept. After reading a copy that stays in my collection there is a small X made in the upper right hand on the cover. The most important issues are the ones in which one of my articles is published.

It is interesting to read about other societies and their members work. The nationally well-respected major publications offer the opportunity to review the work of professional writers or those with experience in particular types of research. By reading the cast offs of others it helps in determining the publications one might want to subscribe to in the future. What are you reading and which types of publications are you subscribing to?

 

 

Spring 2014 Reading – 26 Publications

British Connections, The Journal of the International Society for British Genealogy and Family History – 9 quarterlies

Children of the American Revolution Magazine – 8 monthly issues, very old

Clark County Genealogical Society (WA) – 2 monthly newsletters

Fairfax Genealogical Society Newsletter (VA) – 2 newsletters

Family Chronicle Magazine – 15 bi/monthly issues

Family Tree Magazine – 2 monthly issues

Genealogical Journal, An International Genealogical Publication of the Utah Genealogical Association – 2 quarterlies

Genealogical Reference Builders Newsletter (IL) – 1 quarterly

German Life – 1 bi-monthly

GSNJ Newsletter, Genealogical Society of New Jersey – 12 quarterlies

Heraldry, The Augustan Society, Inc., California – 1 quarterly

Illinois State Genealogical Quarterly – 1 quarterly

International Society for British Genealogy and Family History – 2 newsletters

Lycoming Lineage for Lycoming County Genealogical Society – 1 bi-monthly newsletter

NGS News Magazine for National Genealogical Society – 2 quarterlies

NGS News for North Carolina Genealogical Society – 3 quarterlies

Ohio Genealogy News – 1 quarterly

Oregon History – 1 quarterly

St. Louis Genealogical Society (MO)– 1 quarterly

The Godfrey Update – 1 quarterly

The Heraldry Gazette, The Heraldry Society, England – 14 quarterlies

The Hoosier Genealogist (IN) – 5 quarterlies

The Mayflower Quarterly – 6 quarterlies

The New England Historical and Genealogical Register – 3 monthly issues

The New York Researcher (The New York Genealogical and Biographical Society)– 2 quarterlies

The Review of Dupage County IL Genealogical Society – 2 quarterlies