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Massachusetts Research: Four Centuries of History and Genealogy (On Demand)

Presented by Hallie Kirchner, Danielle Cournoyer, Lindsay Fulton, David Allen Lambert, and Melanie McComb
Original broadcast: July 2023

This program includes acces to 5+ hours’ worth of instructional video, handouts, and other materials.

Once you complete your registration, you will receive an email with a link to the course page. You can also access this page under “My Account”> “Digital Content.” You will have access to course materials for the foreseeable future.

COURSE TOPICS

Class 1: 17th-Century Massachusetts Research
Presented by David Allen Lambert

17th-century Massachusetts colonists are some of the most researched and written-about group of people on the planet, but there remain research challenges: distinguishing people with the same name, understanding unique record sets, and more. This first class will look at the beginnings of Massachusetts Bay and Plymouth Colony and the people who inhabited the lands prior to colonization, provide an overview of the many published genealogical resources and record transcriptions available, demonstrate how to locate and utilize primary sources, and discuss how to overcome common research challenges.

Class 2: 18th-Century Massachusetts Research
Presented by Melanie McComb

The 18th century was a transformative and foundational period for Massachusetts: continued colonial conflicts, movement westward, revolution, the abolition of slavery, and ultimately statehood. This session will look at just some of the many records of the era—pre and post American independence—including military records, tax lists, census records, newspapers, city directories, and more.

Class 3: 19th-Century Massachusetts Research
Presented by Hallie Kirchner

Massachusetts experienced even more transformation in the 19th century, from the industrial revolution to the Civil War to an increase of immigration from Canada, the British Isles, Germany, Italy, Eastern Europe, and beyond. This class will look at the start of the state census, the age of the passenger list, pension files, expanded vital records, published genealogies and local histories, and less commonly used records.

Class 4: 20th-Century Massachusetts Research
Presented by Danielle Cournoyer

Continued urbanization and industrialization characterized much of 20th-century Massachusetts. This final session will look at records that emerge in the 20th century—and the changes in records and record keeping that persisted since the 17th century, with particular attention to the topic of “access.” 

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