The Chester County History Center invites the public to join it on Saturday, Sept. 26 and Saturday, Oct. 24 for its fall genealogy lecture series hosted in tandem with the Chester County Archives.

On Sept. 26 from 9:30-11:45 AM, Sydney F. Cruise Dixon will host “Sifting Through the Evidence: Analyzing Documents and Sources for Genealogy” via Zoom.

You will only need a desktop, laptop, tablet, phone, or other mobile device capable of running Zoom, as well as high-speed Internet. Saturday’s program will feature:

Lecture One (9:30-10:30 AM): Analyzing Documents and Sources for Genealogical Research

In order to conduct quality genealogical research, it is critical to completely understand the documents and sources that your ancestors left behind. However, many researchers only focus on the data in a record that answers their immediate interest. At best, this hasty research practice misses other valuable pieces of information, and, at worst, this behavior may cause the researcher to completely misinterpret the information contained in the source. In the first part of this program, the key elements of genealogical sources, information, and evidence will be discussed. The host will break down the necessary methods to properly analyze and interpret the information contained in your family’s records. She will also discuss how the storage of a record can affect the credibility of its contents.

Lecture Two (from 10:45-11:45 AM): Forming Sound Genealogical Conclusions and Maximizing Indirect Evidence

In the second part of this program, the host will look at case studies in order to examine the more sophisticated issues of source evaluation. She will look at the research methods necessary to extract all the information contained in genealogical sources. She will explore how to assemble and combine pieces of information from various sources to form sound genealogical conclusions and maximize indirect evidence.

Click here to reserve your spot.

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