Family History Library (Source: Wikicommons) Two weeks from today, my husband and I will be on our way to Salt Lake City. There is a short conference/class that my husband wanted to attend for work, and he suggested that I come along and we make a little non-kid vacation out of it. (And, yes, he knew when he mentioned it to me that I wouldn't be able to refuse! He knows the power of the Family History Library, lol!)
This will be my first trip to the FHL. I will only have two days of research time. I am going into this experience with realistic expectations of how much (how little) research I will probably be able to accomplish in that short period of time. I will only be concentrating on a couple of family lines, and I will be primarily searching for microfilmed records that I have already found to be indexed on FamilySearch.org. All of the films are international. I know exactly which microfilms I will need, and I will be using this online form to request them ahead of time, so they are ready to go when I arrive. I have printed out copies of the indexed records and paper-clipped them together with a single-page print out of that portion of the family tree. I will have a stenographer's notebook where I have written down who and what I am looking for in each family, and I will also use it to take additional source notes, if necessary. I also plan on bringing my iPad so that I can access all of my family tree records that I have put online, if I need to look something up.
If possible, I would like to avoid having to bring my laptop, mainly just for travel reasons. I plan on using a USB flash drive to collect records, and I will copy what I find onto my OneDrive 'cloud' or Google Drive just to be on the safe side. I actually want to invest in a new flash drive for the occasion - any recommendations or suggestions?
So, for those of you who have done research at the FHL, what am I forgetting? Any advice or suggestions for a newbie? My husband and I will also be taking some time to tour Salt Lake City and the surrounding area, and I'd love to hear suggestions for what to see, where to eat, etc.
©2014, copyright Emily Kowalski Schroeder
This will be my first trip to the FHL. I will only have two days of research time. I am going into this experience with realistic expectations of how much (how little) research I will probably be able to accomplish in that short period of time. I will only be concentrating on a couple of family lines, and I will be primarily searching for microfilmed records that I have already found to be indexed on FamilySearch.org. All of the films are international. I know exactly which microfilms I will need, and I will be using this online form to request them ahead of time, so they are ready to go when I arrive. I have printed out copies of the indexed records and paper-clipped them together with a single-page print out of that portion of the family tree. I will have a stenographer's notebook where I have written down who and what I am looking for in each family, and I will also use it to take additional source notes, if necessary. I also plan on bringing my iPad so that I can access all of my family tree records that I have put online, if I need to look something up.
If possible, I would like to avoid having to bring my laptop, mainly just for travel reasons. I plan on using a USB flash drive to collect records, and I will copy what I find onto my OneDrive 'cloud' or Google Drive just to be on the safe side. I actually want to invest in a new flash drive for the occasion - any recommendations or suggestions?
So, for those of you who have done research at the FHL, what am I forgetting? Any advice or suggestions for a newbie? My husband and I will also be taking some time to tour Salt Lake City and the surrounding area, and I'd love to hear suggestions for what to see, where to eat, etc.
©2014, copyright Emily Kowalski Schroeder
