Memories – The Family History Guide Blog

July 11, 2026

Keep or throw away: the challenge of genealogical documents and photos

Note: This article was published previously on the Genealogy’s Star blog site. This may not be obvious, but it is a generated image and it does bear a significant relationship to the recent status of the boxes in my basement. The past few weeks, various members of my family have come and “assisted” us in working through the piles of boxes in...

Memories/Technology Comments: 0

July 6, 2025

MyHeritage, MyStories

Note: This article appeared previously in the Genealogy’s Star website. Quoting from the MyHeritage Blog post “Introducing MyStories: A New Service to Turn Cherished Memories into a Printed Keepsake Book“ For 21 years, MyHeritage has inspired millions of people worldwide to discover more about who they are and where they belong. While family trees, historical records, and photos are integral...

Memories/MyHeritage

June 29, 2025

Using Photos for Research

When we focus on our family history research, we often think only about finding documents and records. Photographs can be a valuable research tool, providing clues that match people with locations, events, and other people. The Family History Guide has some great resources for using photos to further your research, in Goal 7 of Project 4: Discover. Here is a...

Memories/Research

November 24, 2024

Gratitude: What Matters Most

A few days ago I received an email from Aimee Cross, a friend and fellow genealogist (The Family History Guide has quite a few links to videos on her popular YouTube channel). Aimee lives in my home town—Camarillo, California—and part of that city had been devastated by the recent Mountain Fire, which burned over 50,000 acres and destroyed over 100...

Families/Memories

September 16, 2024

Date with Dad

Note: This article was published previously on the Granite FamilySearch Center blog site. My dad got his first 8 mm movie camera as a teenager in about 1937. He loved it and used it a lot to document his life. When he passed away in 2010, he left a large container of his movies and slides that ended up in my brother’s...

FamilySearch/Memories

June 15, 2024

A Father’s Example in Family History

In publishing blog articles I rarely write about my own family. However, since we just celebrated Father’s Day I thought I’d share a few thoughts about my dad—and of course, family history. You see, my dad was the one who first got me interested in genealogy and family history. I remember going into his office as a youth and seeing...

Memories/Stories

September 25, 2023

Eight New Class Outlines Are Here

Last week we introduced the Class Outlines for The Family History Guide in this blog article and on our social media channels. The response has been very positive, and we are excited about the impact that the Class Outlines will make in family history training everywhere. In the initial announcement there were 28 Class Outlines available, covering topics in Memories,...

Learning/Memories/Records/Research/Training

August 20, 2023

PhotoDater™ from MyHeritage: Another Amazing Technological Advance

Note: This article was published previously on the Genealogy’s Star blog site. You can read about all the details of this amazing addition to the MyHeritage.com arsenal of photographic innovations in this blog post: “Introducing PhotoDater™, an Exclusive, Free New Feature to Estimate When Old Photos Were Taken.” Here is a quote from the blog post: If you are like most genealogists,...

Memories/MyHeritage

November 28, 2022

Let’s Be Thankful for These 10 Family History Things

We just concluded Thanksgiving week, and there is a lot to be grateful for. As we think specifically about family history, there are many tender mercies that happen along the way. Let’s take a moment and reflect on some of the things we may occasionally take for granted but are always blessings: Ancestors who kept journals. One of the most...

Country Research/Memories/Research/U.S. Research

October 9, 2022

Don’t Forget the Aunts and Uncles

Note: This article by Dave Castleton appeared previously in the Granite Family History Center blog site. A few years ago I wrote a history of my father. He died quite young, and my children and grandchildren did not get to know him. I wanted to help them learn about his life and experiences. As I began writing, I realized I...