It is wise to acquaint yourself with any repository which you might visit by writing to the appropriate archive or library in advance. Every repository has published materials that introduce its collections and research policy. State archives and historical agencies also have Internet sites that provide the same information. Some even have downloadable databases for some or parts of their collections.
"Genealogists are generally positive and energetic, and most are ready to share their findings or research experience with anyone they can help. There are hundreds of genealogical societies at the grass-roots level. Knowledge of the genealogical community will place you in the midst of much activity, increase your productivity, and alert you to the importance of research standards and etiquette." Sandra Hargreaves Luebking,
Editor of FGS Forum, Co-editor of The Source: A Guidebook of American Genealogy
Because family history research relies greatly upon records found at the county level, many local societies represent counties. Organizations also form around shared interests. Ethnic or religious origins account for many groups, such as the Polish Genealogical Society of America and P.O.I.N.T. (Pursuing Our Italian Names Together). Societies also form around common locales of origin for members’ ancestors; hence, the Palatines to America and Germans from Russia societies. To locate these and other societies, consult Juliana Szucs Smith’s The Ancestry Family Historian’s Address Book. It lists addresses, telephone and fax numbers, and Internet addresses of thousands of organizations throughout the United States.
For almost every state there is a state genealogical society, a state genealogical council, or both. In addition to their own work, state-level groups sometimes help coordinate the efforts of local societies within the state. Their publications, newsletters and quarterlies, supplement those produced by the local societies.
New Hampshire Genealogical Record Dover, N.H., 1903-10, originally short-lived (only seven volumes were published), has been revived under the auspices of the New Hampshire Society of Genealogists. Publication resumed in July 1990. It is devoted to compiled genealogies, source records, book reviews, and the like
New Hampshire Society of Genealogists Newsletter The Newsletter provides the latest information on genealogy and resources -- find out more about what's going on in New Hampshire genealogy with up-to-date information in our Newsletter
The Granite Monthly a sixty-two volume magazine published between 1877-1930, does not concentrate on family history but is a rich source of local and state history and includes some marriage records and other genealogical data.
The Genealogist
is the quarterly publication distributed to members of the American-Canadian Genealogical Society in Manchester, publishing materials and articles concentrating on Canadian-American (Quebec and New England, principally) research.
No newspapers were
published in New Hampshire before the 1750s, although items
referring to residents before that date may be found in Massachusetts
newspapers.
The New Hampshire Historical Society is the principal repository for pre-1900 newspapers in the state, holding what remains extant of the Granite State's newspapers beginning with the New-Hampshire Gazette in 1758 until 1900. The society has a grant to microfilm the most fragile pre-1900 newspapers in their collection. Post-1900 newspapers are often on microfilm at the New Hampshire State Library along with some pre-1900 microfilms. Original newspapers between 1900-45 may not be used
While records of birth, marriage, and death are the most commonly sought and the most consistently helpful records, only the genealogist’s imagination and resourcefulness limit newspapers’ usefulness in supplying clues about historical events, local history, probate court and legal notices, real estate transactions, political biographies, announcements, notices of new and terminated partnerships, business advertisements, and notices for settling debts.
Newspapers can provide at least a partial substitute for nonexistent civil records. For example, a person’s obituary may have appeared in a newspaper even when civil death records for that person do not exist. And newspapers are an important source of marriage records, particularly in those states where civil recording of marriages was essentially nonexistent until the twentieth century.
Unlike official records, newspapers are not limited to a particular geographical area. They often include reports of the weddings of local citizens (even those that occurred in a neighboring county or another state), and they sometimes report visits of geographically distant relatives or the visits of former local residents. They often published death notices of individuals who had left the area long before but who still had local family or friends as well. In each case the newspaper account can identify the date and place of an event, thus opening the possibility of turning up additional documentation in other sources.
The first step in searching a newspaper is to identify those which served the area of interest and which have survived. The three most necessary tools are bibliographies (What was published?), inventories of library and depository holdings (Where is it?), and indexes (How do I find what I want in it?).
