If you’ve been reading my BLOGS, you’re probably tired of hearing my reminders to review your research but here we are again. <smile> I was reminded myself when I went looking for a particular document. After looking at online folders as well as three binders full of valuable information, I realized that I need to practice what I preach. Let’s look.

My focus has been on German research and after a recent webinar, I learned about this site ARCHIVPORTAL-D which provides a handy way to locate archive materials across Germany. Let’s look.

​While I have more RootsTech classes to watch yet, I thought I’d share information about a few German research opportunities I learned about. Let’s look.
​If you are looking to for opportunities to increase your German expertise and research skills these two sites will help you on your way.
Learning
Germanology Unlocked
You’ve heard me talk about this site before and Katherine Schober continues to provide get articles, newsletters, and webinars with German language tips. She has two great books on understanding the German Kurrentscrift and German Church records. In addition to all of this she has three extensive courses, including a brand new one The Complete Guide to German Genealogy.
 
German Genealogy Collective
This site is by Andreas Bentschneider of Hamburg, Germany. It provides a great way for you to learn more about German records and research from an expert German researcher. This is a subscription-based program with monthly webinars and groups to help you do your own research. I listened to Andrea’s presentation of marriages in 19th century Germany. It was quite interesting how marriages traditions were quite different from today.
 
Services
Both of these German experts also provide services related to German language and research.
Germanology Unlocked
In addition to the information and courses available, Katheryn and her team are experts at translating old German documents. With years of experience, they can help you tackle those hard to read names, documents, and letters.
Beyond History
Andrea and her team offer their services to do your German research. Having experts in German who understand the history and resources available to find that information on your family is definitely a bonus.
I hope you take some time to check out these great resources. Happy  German research!

This week RootsTech 2025 takes place so any spare moment I have will be spent honing my genealogy skills, learning more about techniques, tools, and topics.

​Hopefully, you will take the time to do the same. One of the few positive things to come out of the pandemic is that we now have the opportunity to “attend” a world class event from wherever we are in the world. And once RootsTech is complete, don’t forget to support online seminar offerings from genealogical societies. I’ve benefited from many webinars offered by one of my favorite societies, Ontario Ancestors. I’m sure that you can name other societies that provide webinars.
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As you look at this week and this year, take some time to plan out ways that you can improve your research skills as well as your writing skills. Both will be beneficial as you begin and continue to write about your family history. As family historians we love to gather up all the interesting dates, facts, and details about our people. However, all of that hard work is not valuable to others unless we write it down with context. It’s good to invest time to sharpen our skills so that we can then use the new knowledge to write our family stories. Happy Learning!

​I’ve found that it pays to revisit sites. I recently explored the North Dakota Historic site again, looking at newspapers. I was pleasantly surprised to find that in addition to those newspapers that were digitized via Chronicling America, there is another option  Advantage Archives. Let’s look.