OD Piecing Together the Story, August 31, 2026 8:00PM

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Piecing Together the Story: Analyzing Records and Drawing Conclusions

Original Broadcast: September 4, 11, 18, 25, and October 2 6:00-7:30 p.m. Eastern Time
Presented by David Allen Lambert, Rhonda R. McClure, and Melanie McComb

This course includes five 90-minute classes and exclusive access to handouts and recordings of each presentation.

You can also access this page under “My Account”> “Digital Content.”

 

Class 1: Analyzing, Evaluating, and Leveraging a Record, presented by Rhonda R. McClure

In this first class of the seminar, Rhonda will lay the foundation of record analysis. You’ll learn how to identify the information found in a record, understand its context, how it fits into your family history research, and what clues it can provide for the next steps in your research.

Class 2: When a Record Gives Minimal Information, presented by Melanie McComb

Every family historian has experienced the feeling of finding a sought-after record, only to find that it includes scant information. You may have found a ship manifest listing your ancestors’ name…only to find that it lists no other identifying information for the passengers. In this class, Melanie will walk you through strategies for analyzing these types of records and finding supporting evidence.

Class 3: Filling in the Gaps Between Records, presented by David Allen Lambert

Records like the census, city directories, tax records, and more can provide precious information about our ancestors. However, you may find that your ancestors’ circumstances changed quite a bit in the “gaps” between the records. Between one census and the next your ancestor may have moved to a different state, married, had children, and been widowed. In this class, David will discuss how to identify the missing information between record sets, and how to find clues and supporting evidence to fill in these gaps.

Class 4: Understanding the Historical Context of a Record, presented by Rhonda R. McClure

Our ancestors’ lives were shaped by the times they lived in, and it is impossible to fully understand a record without familiarizing yourself with the historical context it was created in. For example, growing anti-immigrant sentiment in the late 19th and early 20th centuries influenced the amount of information that was gathered on passenger lists, the census, and other records. In this class, Rhonda will discuss how knowing the historical context of a record set can help you deepen your understanding of your ancestor’s story. She will also discuss its importance in understanding record availability, the amount of information recorded sets, and more.

Class 5: Forgotten and Underrepresented Voices in Records, presented by Melanie McComb

Many records that are useful to family historians pertain to particular groups of individuals—those who owned land, those who could vote, those who left wills, and more. While this has created an abundance of records for some individuals, if you are researching ancestors who were marginalized, you will find that there are fewer records documenting their lives as they may not have had the ability to vote, own land, or to transfer money. In this lecture, Melanie will discuss how to uncover the stories of people often left out of traditional record sets such as women, enslaved people, the impoverished, Native Americans, and other forgotten and underrepresented voices in history.