About Us

OUR LECTURES AND SEMINARS

Each of the presentations described below has been designed to appeal to diverse groups of genealogical researchers, with varying levels of expertise. Each of the topics draws heavily from Mr. Wolfgang's own professional and research experience since 1961. Each of the presentations lasts approximately one hour, and most can be either contracted or expanded to fit the needs of a specific audience. Audiences will find the presentations to be lively and thought provoking. Masters for handouts for most talks will be provided to the sponsoring organization.

TOPICS CURRENTLY AVAILABLE FOR PRESENTATION:

 NEW:  If You Think You've Looked Everywhere, It's Time To Think Again: Uncommon Research Tools That Can Lead To Uncommonly Good Results

Even long-time experienced or professional genealogists occasionally find themselves slipping into “research ruts” - going back again and again to the same traditional sources and repositories to find solutions to problems.  Most times, it works (that’s why we do it!), but for some problems, it’s just not enough.   

Some problems can require some serious “outside the box” thinking. When you encounter a thorny research question and the familiar, trusted sources don’t seem to be yielding an answer, it’s probably time to get out of the research rut, and start exploring some unfamiliar territory. 

For example, are there professionals and scholars in the ivory tower world of academia who are using obscure records and sources that you’ve never heard of … but that just might solve your specific problem?     Are those records housed in a facility or repository that’s been ignored by or is unknown to genealogists?  Are there things you should review regularly in other fields of study, even if they aren’t directly concerned with genealogy and nobody you know is checking them?  Should you take the interdisciplinary approach?  What crossover areas are likely to yield the most fruitful returns on your investment of time and resources?  Where can you go for information on what scholars in other seemingly unrelated fields of study are investigating?  Is it all on the Web?  Is it expensive? Is it worth it?

Picking up where the “Sleuthing in the Stacks” talk leaves off, this presentation is designed to get the audience motivated to move beyond traditional genealogical resources and repositories.

NEW:  So, You Think You Know All About City Directories?  A Guide to Deconstructing A City Directory and Extracting Every Bit of Information From Its Pages

Familiarity breeds contempt, they say.  That’s especially true with a lot of our “old favorite” genealogical research tools, like city directories.  Because they look “familiar”, most researchers use city directories to look up names, occupations and addresses.  For many researchers, city directories function mostly like primitive telephone books.  They do a quick “look-up” and stop there.

Fortunately, city directories can often do much more for the genealogical researcher who knows how to use them.  Learn how to use the “less traveled” parts of a directory to develop new insights about your ancestors and their community.   Learn how to use city directories to calculate age, determine an approximate or actual date of death, and even uncover the out-of-town place to which a traveling family member moved.  Understand the importance of using city directories to interpret and evaluate federal and state census information.  Finally, discover what city directories can reveal about neighborhood patterns, political subdivisions, “hidden” record sources and the city’s culture and institutions at the time of publication   (Available in May 2008) 

NEW:  Is It Time To Call In The Big Guns?  Should I Hire A Professional? 

Most genealogists are died-in-the-wool do-it-yourselfers when it comes to family research.  Nonetheless, there comes a time when it might be worth calling in (and, yes, actually paying) a professional to help break down a brick wall, provide a new perspective or deal with unfamiliar sources and records.  Remember, even professional genealogists hire other professionals!

There are all kinds of professionals that provide valuable and cost effective services in the genealogist’s marketplace, from record searchers and research analysts to photographers and book designers.  Should you consider using one?

Learn how to evaluate your research problem, do a simple cost-benefit analysis, and still save most of the “fun part” of your family history research for yourself!  (Available in June 2008) 

NEW:  Understanding and Using Archival Collections in the 21^st Century:  What Every Genealogist Needs To Know

There are more than 160,000 collections of primary source material available for research in over 5,500 archival repositories in the United States.  The vast majority of these collections contain original documents and manuscripts – primary source material such as letters, diaries, and account books – that can provide the savvy genealogist with actual first-hand documentation of vital events.  Most of these research materials preserved in archival repositories will never be copied, microfilmed or digitized/ put online in our lifetimes. Yet most genealogists are unfamiliar with these collections and their use. 

This presentation discusses the essential, but sometimes subtle, differences between libraries and archives and the collections they house, and provides the audience with an understanding of the role that various kinds of archives and archival collections can play in their genealogical research. 

Family historians will learn how to locate finding aids to access these collections, and will also better understand how archivists and records managers process, arrange and catalogue collections and why this knowledge of the archival process and commonly used archival terms can be helpful to the researcher.  Suggestions for planning an on-site archives visit, observing proper research protocol and “archival etiquette” will also be discussed.  (Available in March 2008)   

NEW:  “Troy Papers Please Copy”:  Beyond-The-Basics Tips and Techniques for Using Newspapers in Genealogical Research

Researchers sometimes forget that before it was history, it was news – and their ancestors may have been a part of it.  Although most genealogists are familiar with newspapers as sources for obituaries and marriage notices, they often overlook other kinds of newspaper information that can lead them to new and exciting genealogical discoveries.

This presentation provides an overview of newspaper publishing in North America, examines the kind of information useful to genealogists that can be found in newspapers of different eras that is usually overlooked by modern researchers, and underlines the importance of locating and using ethnic and religious newspapers in addition to the “traditional” press.

This presentation explores the variety of opportunities presented by newspaper research – especially using rapidly expanding digitized and searchable resources -, examines the evolving view of “public” and “private” information over time, and discusses the often-overlooked types of genealogical clues and information that can be found in both mainstream and special interest (ethnic and religious) newspapers. 

Moreover, because “the right to privacy” is a relatively modern legal concept, older newspapers can often provide highly specific and personal information about individuals and families that is available nowhere else...but only if the researcher knows what to expect and how and where to look.

Most important, it’s often the kind of information that would never be published in today’s press.

In addition, the presentation discusses some short-cut techniques for locating newspapers (in original, microform, or digitized/searchable formats) and the limitations of the online search engines found on most digital newspaper sites. 

NEW: Researching "Birds of a Feather": How Prosopography, Cluster Studies, and Record Linkage Techniques Can Help Put New Leaves On Your Family Tree

Sometimes, a genealogist can contract a bad case of tunnel vision.  The symptoms of this affliction are overly narrow focus on a nuclear ancestral family, minimal peripheral extended family vision and “isolated ancestor” syndrome.  Until this condition is corrected, no research project seems to go quite right.  Fortunately, there is a solution.  A clue to the solution is contained in the old adage “birds of a feather flock together”.  Strange as it sounds, sometimes the most effective way to locate the exact information you need about your family or ancestor is to research somebody else who might be completely unrelated.

This presentation introduces genealogists and family historians to three useful techniques (prosopography, cluster studies and record linkage) developed and used by researchers in other academic disciplines - medieval historians, epidemiologists and sociologists, to name a few - that may help dismantle those "brick walls". Learn about the techniques that other professionals use to reconstruct historic communities, former neighborhoods and extended families and discover how uncovering the network of relationships and patterns in your ancestors' lives can breathe new life - and real results - into your research.  

NEW:  Some Tips On Becoming a “Digital Ahnenforscher”

The Germans call it “Ahnenforschung”; we call it “family history research”.  For many researchers in North America, tracing their German ancestors in Europe has always been difficult, not only because of the barriers of distance and cost, but also because either the language or the records (or both!) were unfamiliar.  

Fortunately, the technological developments of the digital age, especially the Internet, have shrunk the world and opened up a vast array of new research possibilities for the family history researcher.  Considering everything that’s available digitally and online, how can researchers tracing German families sort it all out?  What about researchers who don’t speak German?   How can they deal with German websites?  What resources should they investigate?  Where to begin ??!!

This presentation focuses on introducing the audience to a whole host of interesting websites – many of them “portal sites” and mostly free - that researchers with German ancestral interests, beginners and old pros alike, will find particularly useful. 

NEWLY REVISED!  Overland on Paper Trails: Using Maps in Genealogical Research

This presentation is designed to provide genealogists with a brief overview of the history of cartography (mapmaking) in Europe and America and to describe the kinds of maps and other geographical finding aids that are most useful for genealogical research.

Since not all maps are created equal, the limitations of maps from various places and time periods are discussed, including the problems that may be caused by unintentional (or sometimes intentional) cartographers’ errors.  Suggestions and techniques for finding and using various kinds of maps to draw genealogical conclusions are given. The audience will be directed to a variety of free Internet sources that can be used to locate and view maps useful for genealogical research.

Urban Research: Sources and Techniques 

Cities – and city research – can cause some researchers to consider throwing in the towel.  For researchers whose research experience is primarily with records in rural or small town areas, the thought of tracking a family in a large urban area can be intimidating.  Whether it’s in late 18^th century Boston or New York, or in early 20^th century Chicago or New Orleans, tackling an urban research problem can seem almost like undertaking research in a foreign country. 

This presentation provides the researcher with an in-depth look at the kinds of unique records and resources that are available in urban areas and will be especially useful for those doing 19th century research. Drawing on more than 40 years experience on both sides of the desk with urban governments, records and archives, Mel Wolfgang will discuss a variety of finding aids, sources and records that are unique to cities, and will offer suggestions for their effective use. Note: Although examples are primarily drawn from the northeastern U.S., this presentation is NOT location-specific; the sources and techniques discussed will apply to most 19th century urban areas in the United States.

From The Golden Door to the Urban Frontier: Tips and Techniques for Tracing Ethnic Families in American Cities

This presentation focuses on researching immigrant families in urban areas, with an emphasis upon the records of the 19th and early 20th centuries.  The role of religion, old-country ties and elaborate kinship systems are discussed, along with the immigrant family’s “Americanization” process and the records it often generated.

The importance of ethnic press as a genealogical resource is a prominent feature of this presentation.

Sleuthing in the Stacks: Using Uncommon Resources to Uncover Genealogical Clues

Do you have a “brick wall” problem that seems too high to hurdle?  Is your research project stuck and in need of a jump-start? This presentation, long a favorite of audiences at all levels, introduces the researcher to a host of rarely used reference tools and finding aids that can be successfully used by genealogists who have come up against a "dead end" or "brick wall" in their research.

Reference resources used by “non-genealogist” professionals in other research disciplines are explored, and suggestions for effectively using “non-genealogical” bibliographic literature and conducting a secondary literature search using resources not widely known to genealogists are given.

Tracking A Culture Lost in Translation: Germans and German-Americans in 19th Century America

This lecture discusses the patterns of German immigration, settlement and acculturation in 19th century America, with special reference to New York State and the Northeast.

In addition to providing an overview of the causes of emigration from Europe and a description of German-American life, special attention will be given to those unique German-American cultural institutions whose surviving records or publications can help genealogists locate a specific ancestral place of origin, document an important vital event, or track a family's migrations.

Shanty Lace, Cabbagetowns and Paddy Camps: Tracking Erin's Elusive Exiles in the Northeast

This presentation focuses on the genealogical implications of Irish immigrant family experience in the northeast, largely in urban areas.

An overview of records of genealogical value, many of which are little-known and rarely used, is provided. The presentation stresses the importance of understanding (a.) the extended family unit, (b.) the local patterns of settlement, (c.) the neighborhood and (d.) the social history of 19th century America in pursuing successful Irish-American genealogical research.

"To the Honorable the Board of Supervisors...": Identifying and Using the Obscure and Uncommon Records of Local (City, Town and County) Governments

Drawing on Mel Wolfgang’s many decades-long experience as a local government administrator and genealogist, this lecture will identify a variety of uncommon records which can be found at the local government level that are often overlooked by genealogists.

Some of the records discussed will include coroner's reports, public safety reports and records, records of public charities, legislative records, orphan assistance records and a host of other unusual source records that genealogists can use to help expand their research. The lecture concentrates on, and draws examples from, 19th and early 20th century northeastern local government sources.

Tracing Paupers and Orphans, Sturdy Beggars and the Worthy Poor: A Walk on the Dark Side of Genealogical Research

Hundreds of thousands of individuals living in America in the 18th and 19th centuries would today be described as the poor, the homeless, the dispossessed, and the "criminal element”. Many of these people found their way into difficult circumstances through no fault of their own. For some, a life of crime or poverty was temporary; for others, it was a permanent condition.

The rise of public and private institutions and organizations, as well as a well-organized - though oftentimes poorly administered - body of law created to deal with the problems of poverty and crime produced a rich legacy of records that is still largely untapped by genealogists.

This presentation will discuss society's attitudes in the 19th century toward the poor and the criminal, and the sick and the elderly, as well as the conditions which led to arrest, incarceration or institutionalization in a penitentiary, almshouse, house of refuge or asylum, and the corresponding public and private records which may still exist documenting the lives of these often-elusive individuals. 

Going Beyond City Directories: Biographical, Professional, Occupational and College Directories as a Genealogist's Research Tool

This talk provides an overview of the variety of directory types that genealogists can use to discover additional clues about their ancestors and families. Often overlooked as genealogical references, directories may contain information about individuals and their family members that are available from no other source. Finding directories and evaluating the accuracy of the information in them will be discussed. 

In the Shadows of Giants: The Parallel Genealogical Careers of Joel Munsell and Lemuel Shattuck

This presentation traces the activities of the 19th century Albany-based publisher and antiquarian Joel Munsell and his Boston contemporary Lemuel Shattuck, early pioneer in the fields of statistics, genealogy and local history. Although comparatively unknown today, both men left an indelible mark on the craft of genealogical research.  Includes a short history of genealogical publishing during the 19th century and discusses the impact of Munsell and Shattuck on their times and their continuing influence on genealogical research even in the 21^st century.

An ideal luncheon or banquet talk.

Mr. Wolfgang received his undergraduate degree from McGill University in Montreal and completed further graduate study at Columbia University. A member of numerous historical and genealogical societies, he is married and the father of two sons.

For more information about available dates and and lecture/seminar fees, please contact Mr. Wolfgang at sales@jonathansheppardbooks.com.