Guides
How to Trace a Figure Using Colonial American Records
Colonial American records can reveal a figure's life through town, church, court, and military sources. Learn how to trace evidence, cite it, and assess gaps.
Desk
Practice Desk
Process, tooling and the habits that separate a good result from an expensive one.
Guides
US Vital Records: Access to Famous People’s Birth Records
US vital records are state or local records. Age, access rules, archives and census records guide searches for famous people's birth records.
Guides
Chicago municipal and Cook County records for tracing business and culture figures
Cook County and City of Chicago records, Illinois archives, and community archives can help trace the people behind famous Chicago businesses and cultural works.
Guides
3 record sets for tracing famous figures in Boston and Philadelphia
Three record sets name people in Boston and Philadelphia: state archive collections, city and town clerk files, and designated heritage sites.
Guides
Historical figures by country: the records behind origins
Historical figures by country, from Shakespeare to Confucius: which registers, rolls and censuses document their origins, and where the evidence has gaps.
Costs
People by heritage rankings 2027: why we won't rank
People by heritage rankings 2027 are not published here: archive gaps, shifting categories, and group-ranking concerns make the tally misleading.
Maintenance
What the heritage timeline records, with worked examples
A people by heritage timeline is a timeline of record layers, with worked examples from Beethoven's baptism, Shakespeare's will and Washington's two birthdays.
Industry
People by US City Directory: What an Entry Proves
How people by US city directory listings are read: what a printed entry proves, who never appears, and how to work the sections and cite a page.