Tuesday's Tip - Library!

A little late, and a little short, my tip for this week is to check out your local public library's offerings.  I know it gets said often, and we go and look at a few things and think we know what is available.  But take a few minutes to ask staff, they may have some resources you were not aware of!

Case in point:  I recently visited my local public library with my son's Boy Scout troop.  They were working on the Genealogy Merit Badge.  The merit badge counselor decided to hold one meeting at the library so the boys could see what was available, and do a little research.  Great, I thought, I know what's on offer and can help them look for information.

Lo and behold, I was totally unaware that my local library had a copy of the Minnesota State Census on microfilm!  Some of you might be thinking, Duh!  But I had just not thought of it as something they would have.  I've used their Heritage Quest database access to access images online, sure, and I've browsed the collection of county histories in the reference section, but that was about it.

My family isn't from this state and county, but my spouse's family has been in this area for many decades.  I have a whole bunch of microfilm I need to check out now!  The night of the Boy Scout trip, my son used those state census films to research on of his ancestors in this area, and we ended up finding several others on that film as well. 

Back to the Library!

Tuesday’s Tip – What advice would you give to another genealogist or family historian, especially someone just starting out? Remember when you were new to genealogy? Wasn’t it great to find tips and tricks that worked for others? Post your best tips at your genealogy blog on Tuesday’s Tip. This series was suggested by Susan Petersen of Long Lost Relatives and, in fact, this has been an ongoing series by Lynn Palermo at The Armchair Genealogist and by Miriam Robbins Midkiff at AnceStories: The Stories of My Ancestors.  .  (Blurb shamelessly stolen from Thomas McEntee at Geneabloggers.)