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Course image Research: U.S. 20th Century Records Including Adoption Records
Intermediate Electives
EL-253: Research: U.S. 20th Century Records Including Adoption Records
Course Summary:

Note: This course requires compulsory materials to be ordered. These are available at GenealogyStore.com

  1. Board for Certification of Genealogists, Genealogy Standards, 2nd edition revised (Nashville, Tennessee: Ancestry, 2021).

Optional Print Course Material: Research: U.S. 20th Century Records, Including Adoption Records

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

Genealogists have one, two, or three generations of ancestors to track through the 20th century; a century marked by an emphasis on privacy and the closure of records. 

This six-module course provides a foundation for researching twentieth-century sources. It includes evidence analysis exercises, source citation practice, and application of genealogical standards. (Genealogy Standards, Second Edition, or Genealogy Standards, 50th Anniversary Edition, is compulsory reading for this course.) Adoption research is featured in many of the examples. 

Course Length: 7 weeks

Contact Hours: 18
Grading Scale: 70% Tests/30% Assignments
Course Length: 7 weeks
Course Content

MODULE 1
INTRODUCTION
Commonly Used Sources
Genealogical Proof Standard
Genealogy Standards
Evidence Analysis Terminology
COMPILED RECORDS
Introduction
Internet Searches
Evaluating Internet Resources
Use CARS to Analyze a Compiled Family Tree
Adoption
Search for Living Persons

MODULE 2
VITAL RECORDS: BIRTH, MARRIAGE & DEATH
Access to Birth Records
Pre-Adoption Birth Record
Death Records
Older Death Records
Other Records Created at the Time of Death
Probate Records
Marriage Records
Locating Vital Records

MODULE 3
CENSUSES AND CITY DIRECTORIES
Does the Census Correlate with Other Information?
Does One Census Correlate with Other Censuses?
Censuses as a Source of Clues
Censuses as a Source of Demographic Information
City Directories
State Gazetteers

MODULE 4
NEWSPAPERS
Newspaper Source Citations
Family Archives
Libraries
Interlibrary Loan
Ask A Librarian
Legal Notices
Online Newspapers

MODULE 5
LAND RECORDS
Source Citations
Land Records Terminology
Land Records Overview
Evidence Analysis
Where are Land Records Located?
How Do We Know if Our Ancestors Owned Land?
Census to Land Records Example
City Directories
Federal Lands

MODULE 6
MILITARY RECORDS
General
Philippine Insurrection
World War I
World War II
Cemetery
Draft Records
World War I
War on the Home Front
World War II
Philippine-American War, 1899-1902
Military Cemeteries