History Hub

Photo by Chris Lawton on Unsplash

You have likely used the National Archives at various time throughout your family research. There is a wealth of information with more added each year. You may not have been aware of the History Hub. Let’s look.

​The History Hub was created to have a central place where you can ask questions. It is a genealogy community and uses the crowdsourced history. That is an interesting concept, isn’t it?
 
You can learn more about using the History Hub. here. You can try it out yourself here. I typed in “Where do I find WPA records?” in the question bar. I have a grandparent that worked for WPA so I clicked on the first item that asked a similar question and found this answer: “We suggest that you complete a NA Form 14137 - Request Pertaining to Works Progress Administration (WPA) Personnel Records and include as much available information as possible about your relative. Please mail the completed form to the address on the form or attach it to an email to the National Archives at St. Louis (RL-SL) at [email protected].” How cool is that? I have wondered how to pursue finding these records and now I have a starting point.
 
Worried about the accuracy of the answers? According to their recent newsletter: “Experts from the National Archives, the Library of Congress, and other archives and museums will respond to these questions, followed by a community of dedicated citizen experts, providing guidance and their valuable experience.”
 
The site did allow me to ask one question. After that, you do need to set up a free account with History Hub. It requires minimal information to set up your account. Remember that when you ask questions, that they are public and viewable so you will not want to include personal information like social security numbers, phone numbers, email information, etc on this site.
 
I enjoy finding more tools to use in my genealogy research. It is amazing what resources are available at our fingertips. Have fun asking questions and finding information on History Hub!