It’s time to go back to school – GENEALOGY school, that is! No matter what your budget, there are multiple opportunities to enhance your genealogical research skills this fall.
If you aren’t a regular webinar attendee, you should be because there are innumerable topics presented every month and the price is perfect – FREE if you watch them live. (Handouts are usually only available to members, though.)
American Ancestors – The New England Historic Genealogical Society offers both paid and free webinars. It also maintains an archive available to the public for free.
Board for Certification of Genealogists – BCG offers free webinars which are produced by Legacy Family Tree Webinars. BCG webinars are geared towards improving methodology and research skills. While the intended audience are certified genealogists or those working towards certification, the lessons are excellent for everyone.
BYU Family History Library – offers weekly webinars across a number of categories:
DearMYRTLE – Pat Richley-Erickson, aka Myrtle, hosts hangouts – Mondays with Myrt (news and various topics), Wacky Wednesday and various study groups. focused on Val Greenwood’s 4th Edition of The Researcher’s Guide to American Genealogy. She also has a number of videos on YouTube.
Family History Fanatics – Andy and Devon Lee offer an ever-growing range of videos on YouTube on a variety of genealogy topics.
FamilySearch – Classes and Webinars (go to Search and then Research Wiki. Then enter WEBINAR in the search box to get to the link. It’s buried!) FamilySearch archives its classes and webinars. Handouts are free, as are all of their online classes and webinars. FamilySearch even offers its mini-conferences online for free.
Florida State Genealogical Society – offers a monthly series called Poolside Chats.
Illinois State Genealogical Society – offers a monthly series called ISGS Webinars.
JewishGen Learning Center – has an archive of educational videos on YouTube. Scroll down to the bottom of the page for the list and links.
Legacy Family Tree Webinars – This is the only company whose purpose is to host genealogically oriented webinars. MyHeritage bought the company several years ago. All of its webinars are free to the public when presented live. However, there are a couple of subscription options. The regular rate is $49.95, but they often have 40% or more off sales. They also often a terrific bargain – $9.95 for a one month subscription, giving unlimited access. You can binge watch genealogy webinars and access all the handouts. Legacy Family Tree Webinars also offers a bonus webinar each week, not presented live, only accessible by members.
Southern California Genealogical Society – offers two webinars per month
Wisconsin State Genealogical Society – offers monthly webinars
YouTube – There are literally thousands of hits for genealogy. Narrow your topic and you will be surprised at what’s available for free by well known speakers.
The Virtual Genealogical Association – If you are ready to go virtual and would like the friendship and virtual companionship of other genealogists, then VGA is for you. It is just a year old and hosts many activities. It’s like an in-person genealogy society (like Pima County Genealogy Society) except all activities are online. There is a Facebook group where announcements are made and news shared, along with an official website. It hosts monthly webinars for members. Membership is $20.00 per year.
For those who are looking for an online academic program, there are several options, which are tuition based. Details for each program can be reviewed below. :
Boston University Online Certificate in Genealogical Research
BYU – Idaho Certificate in Family History Research
Salt Lake Institute of Genealogy (SLIG) Virtual Programs
Last, but certainly not least, check out this highly rated FREE 6-week course, which begins on 19 October 2020:
University of Strathclyde, Glasgow