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.
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Guides
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.
Guides
People by US city facts: which office holds what
People by US city facts: which office holds which record, with examples from New York, Philadelphia, New Orleans and Chicago, and why none holds them all.
Guides
5 points on reading people by heritage data
People by heritage data read as a chain of documented links, with negative evidence kept and no percentage, worked through on Abraham Lincoln's parents.
Guides
People by US state: what to keep and what to drop
People by US state: which record establishes each connection to a state, who holds it, and how Lincoln and Stonewall Jackson show what to keep and drop.