Roots on the Web

By Thomas Jay Kemp -- School Library Journal, 1/1/1998

Genealogy is an excellent way to help students understand and appreciate history. Often, though, librarians and media specialists do not have the wide range of ethnic and geographic resources to support a family history curriculum. Now, with genealogy exploding on the Web, it's easy to provide practical, meaningful information to K-12 students seeking family histories from Armenia to Venezuela.

Great General Sites
Ancestors, linked to the PBS series, is an outstanding site that includes a teacher's guide, family tree charts, and other worksheets to supplement a class on family history. Ancestry HomeTown is a commercial site packed with useful information. You'll find the "Family History Academy," which offers four series of classes, as well as searchable databases, such as early American Marriage Records and the Social Security Death Index.

At Everton's Genealogical Helper, check out "Resources for Genealogical Research Outside of the United States of America." It's very useful in pointing out sites from Australia to Wales.The world's largest genealogical library, the Family History Library in Salt Lake City, UT, includes an easy five-step program for beginning genealogical research, along with charts and forms that download and print quickly.

The Broderbund Corporation sponsors Family TreeMaker Online. Its "Beginning Genealogy" online class is simple and direct, while the "Biographical Assistant" tutorial walks you through the steps for writing a biography or an autobiography.Another handy site for working with students is Surnames, What's in a Name?, which gives definitions and background on hundreds of names.

Immigrant Stories
Angel Island, located in San Francisco Bay, runs the Angel Island Immigration Station Foundation. It has more than a dozen photo essays on Asian immigration through this port of entry.

The International Channel offers programs in 25 languages. Its "I-Links" to Internet language sites and "Educational Resources" identify dozens of heritage, language, and cultural awareness sites. Also from the International Channel is Ellis Island: Through America's Gateway. It offers visuals and audio clips to give students a first-person perspective on the immigrant experience.

The Freedmen and Southern Society Project has mounted a handful of sample documents from the more than 50,000 it has gathered relating to slavery and emancipation. These original letters and documents make family stories and experiences come to life.

The Library of Congress sites offer such practical resources as "Today in History," "California as I Saw It," and other parts of the American Memory Project. There are also Vietnam War POW/MIA indexes and plenty of genealogical how-to handouts.

Mayflower: Caleb Johnson's May-flower Web Pages has several sections to interest students, including "Girls on the Mayflower," "Women on the Mayflower," and "Pilgrim Clothing."Finally, the US GenWeb Project will appeal to students who want to really dig into records. Here, they can research indexes to original records from all parts of the country.

Web Addresses

• Ancestors
  http://www.pbs.org/kbyu/ancestors
• Ancestry HomeTown
  http://www.ancestry.com/
• Everton's Genealogical Helper
  http://www.everton.com/
• Family History Library
  http://www.lds.org/Family_History/What_is.html
• Family TreeMaker Online
  http://www.familytreemaker.com/
• Surnames: What's In a Name?
  http://clanhuston.com/name/surnames.htm
• Angel Island Immigration Station Foundation
  http://www.a-better.com/LK-ISF.HTM
• International Channel
  http://www.i-channel.com/
• Ellis Island: Through America's Gateway
  http://www.i-channel.com/ellis/index.html
• Freedmen and Southern Society Project
  http://www.inform.umd.edu/ARHU/Depts/History/Freedman/home.html
• Library of Congress
  http://lcweb.loc.gov/rr/genealogy
• Library of Congress: American Memory
  http://lcweb2.loc.gov/ammem
• Mayflower: Caleb Johnson's Mayflower Web Pages
  http://members.aol.com/calebj/mayflower.html
• US GenWeb Project
  http://www.usgenweb.com/index.html

Thomas Jay Kemp is the author of Virtual Roots: A Guide to Genealogy & Local History on the World Wide Web (Scholarly Resources, 1997). Surf For's regular columnist, Gail Junion-Metz, returns next month.