International Institute of Genealogical Studies

Note: This course requires compulsory materials to be ordered. 

The book(s) are available at GenealogyStore.com

Mills, Elizabeth Shown, Evidence! Citation & Analysis for the Family Historian (1997; reprint, Baltimore, Maryland: Genealogical Publishing Co., 2011). 

OR

Mills, Elizabeth Shown, Evidence Explained: Citing History Sources from Artifacts to Cyberspace, Third Edition Revised (Baltimore, Maryland: Genealogical Publishing Co., 2017). 

Optional Print Course Material: American: Census Records

This course is designed to give you a better understanding of the history, content, and uses of census records and related material. Much census material is available on computerized databases located in many familiar places—libraries, archives, etc. This course focuses your search for documents and information. We review common pitfalls and offer tips on how to avoid them.

Note: This course requires compulsory materials to be ordered. The book(s) are available at GenealogyStore.com

Mills, Elizabeth Shown, Evidence! Citation & Analysis for the Family Historian (1997; reprint, Baltimore, Maryland: Genealogical Publishing Co., 2011). 

OR

Mills, Elizabeth Shown, Evidence Explained: Citing History Sources from Artifacts to Cyberspace, Third Edition Revised (Baltimore, Maryland: Genealogical Publishing Co., 2017). 

Optional Print Course Material: American: Vital Records, Understanding and Using the Records

Birth, marriage and death records in the United States are examined. The history and the depth of the information is discussed. The recording of vital statistics often done at the time the event means the information is often of high accuracy. Some problems with accuracy are explored. The objectives of this course include:

• Understanding the creation of vital records in the United States
  
• Locating vital records in the United States
  
• Evaluating information in these records 
  
• Creating a research plan based on availability of records 
  
• Securing documents needed to prove your family lineage

Optional Course Print Material: American: Religious Records - Part 1

*Course material will only be sent to students who are registered in the course.

Optional Print Course Material: American: Land Records

*Course material will only be sent to students who are registered in the course.

Overview of the history and types of land documents in the United States with Colonial Records (English, French, Mexican, Spanish). We examine land grants, the history of homestead records, and the development bounty lands are discussed. Deeds and maps are examined. The availability of statewide and Internet land record sources and resources, where located ,and how to contact the appropriate repository are integral to this course.

Optional Print Course Material: American: Cemetary Records

*Course material will only be sent to students who are registered in the course.

This course will explore the history of cemeteries, the symbolism used, and the types of cemeteries. We will discuss the records created, how to locate a gravesite, and a summary of records published in books and online.

Optional Print Course Material: American: Religious Records - Part 2

*Course material will only be sent to students who are registered in the course.

In this course we discuss American religions in the United States primarily after 1800, including the Orthodox, Easternrite Catholics, Mormons, Jews, Muslims, groups of the Restoration Movement, and others. The course will explore types of religious records available, how to use them, and where accessed. History of religious groups as relevant to their records is included.

Optional Print Course Material: American: Immigration and Naturalization Records

*Course material will only be sent to students who are registered in the course.

In this course we discuss how to trace your immigrant ancestors to the United States. Includes the various immigration and naturalization sources such as passenger arrival lists. Other sources and strategies for documenting immigrants are explored. Historical background of immigration to the United States as relevant to genealogy is covered.

Optional Print Course Material: American: Migration Patterns

*Course material will only be sent to students who are registered in the course.

The purpose of this course is to discuss and illustrate the history of migration across the United States. This includes particular routes individual ancestors would have followed in the migration westward. the time period of settlement of areas of the United States, and specifics about the common patterns of movement of people between areas and states through the decades.

Optional Print Course Material: American: Probate Records

*Course material will only be sent to students who are registered in the course.

This course discusses legal records created by the courts when an ancestor died. Some individuals had wills written before death, and in other cases “administration” records were kept of people who died without a will. Many other records could have been created depending on the time period, place, and prominence of the ancestor.

Optional Course Print Material: American Institutional Records

*Course material will only be sent to students who are registered in the course.

Focusing on vital records and the census can yield a rather incomplete picture of our ancestors’ lives. Many researchers may avoid examining institutional records because they believe it is demeaning to the ancestor, or they believe the records will not shed any new information. Institutional records often contain a wealth of information. This course will introduce the student to records of institutions such as orphanages, prisons, poor houses, asylums, and schools. Students will learn how to determine the correct institution, how to find the records, and how to use the records to lead to new sources. The course also covers possible difficulties in records access.

Optional Print Course Material: American: Newspaper Records

*Course material will only be sent to students who are registered in the course.

This course will introduce you to newspapers as a genealogical resource; from an introductory overview of newspapers, and a look at the history of American newspapers to accessing newspapers online. A look at how you may already be using newspapers will be examined. The different kinds of information, from basic vital record details to local news and historical or biographical items will be discussed with emphasis on how to get the most genealogical information by knowing what types of news items will have what kinds of facts and what may require additional research. Finally, you will be introduced to the different ways to find and access newspapers including interlibrary loan, newspaper morgues, microfilm, and online.

Optional Course Print Material: American: Military Records

*Course material will only be sent to students who are registered in the course.

Within this course, there is a discussion of the various types of records created by military service, such as service records, muster rolls, pension records, and draft registration. The content of the records and their usefulness for genealogy and immigration research are described. Records of conflicts of the United States and colonial America from the early colonial wars of the seventeenth century to the Second World War are included. The Army, Navy, and other branches of service are detailed. History of military action in America as it relates to records is also included.

Optional Print Course Material: American: Court Records

*Course material will only be sent to students who are registered in the course.

This course provides an overview of United States court records, selected finding aids to United States court records and strategies for gleaning the records of the courts. It introduces additional resources and strategies for documenting the interaction of your ancestors and the United States courts; and provides a brief historical background as is relevant to various court records.

Students will be encouraged to share their findings (including additional sources and strategies) while studying the interaction of their families and the courthouse.

Students enrolling in this course will have successfully completed the International Institute of Genealogical Studies’ courses United States: Land Records, United States: Probate Records, and United States: Immigration & Naturalization Records, or have a great deal of experience researching land, probate, and immigration & naturalization records.

At the end of this course, an exam will be provided to evaluate your understanding of the course materials.

Optional Course Print Material: American: Occupational Records

*Course material will only be sent to students who are registered in the course.

Genealogy and the study of family history are more than just the gathering of names and dates. To understand our ancestor, we must look at all aspects of their life, including what they did for a living. This course will focus on occupational records and what they can reveal about our ancestor’s lives.

To learn more about an individual’s occupation the researcher must utilize more than one record. Once the researcher has searched familiar records like the census, city directories, and newspapers, they must continue on with archival records that may document the ancestor’s specific occupation and activities surrounding that occupation. This requires the researcher to access data from many different sources and then analyzes the data to gain the most complete picture of an individual and their occupation or life’s work.

Optional Print Course Material: Australian: Births, Deaths and Marriages

*Course material will only be sent to students who are registered in the course.

This course will concentrate on the birth, death, and marriage information gathered by the various churches as parish records, as well as the civil records gathered by colonial, state, and territory governments. An understanding of the historical context is included to explain which authority collected the information and how the records varied over time. Births, deaths, and marriages records from various periods and jurisdictions will be examined to determine how much information is actually available and helpful for the genealogist, as well as how and where the records may be found.

The course also looks at why the information in such records may not always be accurate, as well as what to do when records are not available in the expected place.

Optional Print Course Material: Australian: Other Sources for Births, Deaths and Marriages

*Course material will only be sent to students who are registered in the course.

While the course Australia: Births, Deaths and Marriages concentrates on the various sources of church parish records and government civil certificates of births, deaths and marriages, this course focuses on other sources to obtain birth, death, and marriage information. Birth, death, and marriage information may be found in newspaper notices, naturalization documents, and military service records. Divorce records provide information about births and marriages, as well as details about the ending of marriages. In addition, there are many other records associated with deaths, including wills, probate, deceased estate files, intestacies, letters of administration, cemeteries, undertakers, and inquest records.

Military records and biographical dictionaries will be mentioned briefly as a source of information about births, deaths, and marriages but these topics are covered in more detail in other courses.

Course Length: 7 weeks

Optional Print Course Material: Australian: Immigration Records - Free Settlers

*Course material will only be sent to students who are registered in the course.

The study of immigration includes more than finding dates and shipping records. An understanding of some Australian history (as well as major events in other places of the world) is necessary to comprehend why large numbers of people chose to leave the places they were living and take the arduous and often dangerous journey to the other side of the world.

The course will discuss the migration of free settlers, and consider significant emigrant groups, government policies, sponsored and assisted passages, voyage conditions, and ships’ passenger lists as well as denization, naturalization and citizenship.

Course Length: 7 weeks

Optional Print Course Material: Australian: Convict Records

*Course material will only be sent to students who are registered in the course.

A study of convict records includes some discussion of the British legal system and the conditions that led to convicts being transported to the colonies of Australia. Governments kept copious records at all stages of their control of the convicts and these provide more information about the convicts in Australia than for free settlers of the same period.

The passage of convicts through the legal system may be traced from their trials and imprisonment, transportation, the convict administration in the colonies, as well as their various assignments until the eventual end of their imprisonment (by death or freedom).

 In addition, the course includes some records of the changing attitudes toconvict heritage and the impact that has on the records that are available.

Course Length: 7 weeks

Optional Print Course Material: Australian: Newspapers and Biographies

*Course material will only be sent to students who are registered in the course.

Newspapers are a wonderful research tool as they can provide background information on our ancestors that may not be found in official documents. As well as the expected notices of births, engagements, marriages, deaths, burials and obituaries we may also find reference to their sporting activities or involvement in community events. References to insolvencies, bankruptcies, other misdemeanours or more serious crimes can lead to court and criminal records at the archives. This course focuses on using both historical and current newspapers to flesh out our knowledge of our ancestors and the communities in which they lived.

 A useful companion to newspapers are biographical resources and these can be for an individual or a defined group and based on a local, state or national level. Often referred to as biographical dictionaries or pioneer registers these resources can provide a quick background on an individual which can then be followed up in newspapers and official records.

 By using these two types of resources, you will be able to add substantially to your knowledge of your ancestors. As more and more of these resources are digitised and placed online making them easier to access and to search, there is a constant need to go back and revisit your research to find any new material on your ancestors.

 By undertaking this course on Australian newspapers and biographies you will find lots of additional material on your families as we make our way through the modules. In the course of writing this module and undertaking the assignments, I even added to my own family knowledge which was a bonus for me.

Course Length: 7 weeks

Optional Print Course Material: Australian: Church Records

*Course material will only be sent to students who are registered in the course.

This course examines religious resources that are available in Australia. Major emphasis has been placed on Christianity and the various church records available for the main Christian denominations in Australia. Parish records such as baptisms, marriages and burials and other lesser known church records are examined. Religions other than Christianity are also looked at briefly as Australia has been a multicultural country since the arrival of the First Fleet in 1788.

Course Length: 7 weeks