What are landmark dates in genealogy innovation?

Genealogy has been a hobby or pastime for centuries, with some doing it for their own family and others working at it as a profession, such as at the College of Arms in London, created in 1484.

A recent article in Family Tree Magazine listed some of the hallmark dates of genealogical innovations and development.

We know the Mormons began microfilming records in the 1930s, but only in recent years have they begun digitizing this film.

In 1984, they began their genealogy program Personal Ancestry File and developed the GEDCOM (Genealogical Data Communication) format, where all genealogy software programs can share information.

Rootsweb.com began in 1996, and Cyndi’s List the same year.

FamilyTreeDNA (familytreedna.com) began in 2000 to do DNA testing.

The Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation (libertyellis foundation.org) began its website in 2001 to feature immigration records from Ellis Island.

In 2003, the Georgia Archives opened its new facility in Morrow, across the plaza from the new National Archives at Atlanta location, making it the first (and so far only) joint location of a state archives and National Archives branch.

You might add to this your own personal technology landmarks — when you got your email account, your website or started your blog or Facebook page. Just a reminder of how far we have come in genealogy.

Ancestry techniques

When using the search feature on ancestry.com, at the bottom of that screen you will see a map of the United States, and if you click on a state, all the specific records for that state will be listed.

You also should go to the card catalog and search keywords to be sure you have found everything for that state.

Email cleanup

Summer is a good time to clean out your email, especially those related to genealogy.

If you keep them saved on your computer, have folders with logical names to store important genealogy emails. You can either use a family surname or, if just labeled “genealogy,” have a system within that folder that will make sense to you in the future — as well as to anyone who might have to take over your computer.

Giving an email a new name when saving it can be crucial. For example: “Brooks Isham 2016 July 4 Letter Senders Name” states subject, date and sender.