Genealogy Associations You Should Join

What Is a Genealogy Association/Society?

Genealogy associations or societies as they are also known tend to be location specific groups created as a community for genealogists to help one another with advice and educational resources. They often have physical locations and an online presence where researchers can interact and help each other by sharing their family history knowledge.

Why Should You Join a Genealogy Association/Society?

There are many reasons that joining a genealogy society is a good idea and often we may find ourselves affiliated with several depending on the diversity of our family history.

Improve Our Skills

In most genealogy societies skill-building is an undeniable priority especially considering that as recently as 1903 researchers were not as stringent in adhering to methodology. Since then genealogy has become more serious with groups like the National Genealogical Society taking steps to improve research methodology.

Many societies will have instructive videos, seminars and general advice boards for members to make use of. This helps to promote the best practices of genealogy in an attempt to stop poor quality misleading work.

Sense of Community

Genealogy by nature is a solo endeavor of research, with friends and family maybe only expressing a polite interest in your work. Through genealogy societies however you can meet and interact with people who have the same hobby.

You may connect with new friends all the way across the country or in other nations. This may help build a personal network of experts who can help us or we can help when it comes to local historical knowledge. Connections made with a local genealogist in a town your ancestors lived in generations ago gives you a boots on the ground ally in your research efforts.

Discover Unknown Records

When you live too far away from your ancestors' original home you do not have access or knowledge of local level records that may be available. Joining a society specifically from a country, county or town of your ancestors' birth opens up the possibilities for your research.

You may find transcribed records gathered from local parish churches in the UK much as I did myself when researching an ancestral village in Shropshire. In fact genealogical societies are great for tracing church records which local historians and genealogists have spent time reading through and transcribing the details.

Advocating for Genealogy

Genealogical societies often work at the national and local levels of government to lobby for the release of certain collections of records to be used in genealogical research. For the millions of records we can find online there are just as many that can not be accessed which may hold important family history information.

They also lobby for better preservation techniques for archives and to have these records digitized to avoid losing valuable information. Famously among genealogists at least in 1921 a fire destroyed almost all of the physical copies of the 1890 UN Federal Census. Only small portions still exist and a huge portion of information has been lost forever.

This destruction of the 1890 census was a big loss to US genealogists and today we have technology and options available to make sure such a loss could never occur again. Still there are millions of records out there that have not been digitized and may only exist in one physical copy. Genealogical societies work hard to lobby for preservation laws and being part of this work should be the goal of all serious genealogists as it benefits us all.

Which Genealogical Societies Should You Join?

This is a unique person by person decision as we all have different family histories and our own sense of heritage. Personally I feel being part of multiple associations is beneficial as it can help expand the reach of your research and the community that you have to help assist you. In this section we will look at the best options for the United States but understand that if you are from another country you may have some local equivalent societies.

The National Genealogical Society (NGS)

We have already mentioned the NGS in this post but for those researching their ancestry in the US this is an important society with which to connect. It is home to genealogists of all levels from around the nation, from beginners to experts.

The NGS website has several research resources that may prove valuable to you including member family trees and a family bible collection. The main draw of this association however is its educational resources. As mentioned from the early 1900s the NGS has been refining and improving the standard of genealogical methodology and seeking to promote best practices.

It is so easy to end up heading down the wrong path in our family trees due to making a mistake. The NGS releases a quarterly magazine which includes genealogical studies and the latest news in the world of genealogy.

Members can also attend annual conferences which take place in a different state each year. You can attend these in person to sit in on seminars and talk about best practices and new research techniques. Basically this is the number one society that you should join when researching your family history in America and also to help develop your skills as a genealogist.

The New England Historic and Genealogical Society

There are many Americans who can trace at least one ancestor back to the early colonies in the New England region. This society is the most comprehensive archive of New England records and researchers out there and may help you greatly.

This society releases a monthly publication called American Ancestors which talks about the history of the United States in general. In this publication you can find tips on locating lesser-known collections of records which may prove helpful for your research.

State Genealogical Societies

You may have family who date back generations in a specific state which may or may not be the state in which you currently reside. Almost all of the states have their own genealogical associations which gives you a lot of potential options to join.

Each state's society focuses on that particular region, the people who lived there, its history and the records that are unique to that region. Joining the societies for any state that is pertinent to your family history is advised even if it is for a short time while you research specific ancestors.

Foreign Societies

Your family may only have been in the US for a few generations meaning that after 100 years or so you need to switch your research to a different country. Now not all nations have thriving genealogical communities but many do have associations or societies to join.

Research the societies in your ancestors' country of origin; you may find national groups as well as more localized ones which may prove beneficial.

Final Thoughts

The key to finding the right genealogy associations to join up with is to know what your family history is. You should join groups that specialize in the regions that you know your ancestors may have come from. If you only suspect a connection to a certain region it may still be worth signing up as you may discover proof to support what you suspect.

Neil Edwards

Genealogist and family-tree research specialist

Neil was born in Shropshire, England surrounded by centuries of living history. His interest in the past has been a lifelong passion leading to undergraduate degrees in both Economic History & Geography and History & Politics.

This interest in history quickly translated to family history when he moved to the U.S. in 2010. It was here that he began working on his own family tree as well as that of his American wife. That research allowed him to gain a wealth of experience working with both U.S. and European genealogical documents and studying their best uses in researching family history.

Following 9 years of honing his genealogical research skills, Neil was proud to have earned a certificate in Genealogical Research from Boston University in late 2019. Neil also took part in the research process for a Duke University study into the families of 19th Century UK Members of Parliament.

Link To or Reference This Page

We spent a lot of time downloading, cleaning, merging, and formatting the data that is shown on the site.

If you found the data or information on this page useful in your research, please use the tool below to properly cite or reference Name Census as the source. We appreciate your support!