2025 Calendar Courtesy OpenClipart Whatcha Gonna Do This Year?  Some make New Year's resolutions; I usually try to set some goals, and look back and measure progress made during the year. Our former president and director of our Education team Barbara Mattoon has set an even higher bar, publicly announcing her goals in our SKCGS blog   2020--What's in Your New Year?  and   2024 Genealogy Resolutions . Lofty goals, and worthy of her dedication, skill and determination.  Inspiring. Back in 2021, I wrote "As I begin this new year, I was determined to not make any resolutions, yet I can't stop myself.  "The book Mastering Genealogical Proof by Thomas W. Jones was a Christmas gift, and I immediately dived into reading it. I even started blogging about it on my personal blog, https://genweblog.blogspot.com/2020/12/end-of-2020-time-for-something-new.html . That's great, but unless I put the principles to work in my own research, what good does the reading and le...

 Summer is a great time to travel to the old home places and distant repositories. What's your first step?  Create Your Plan The longer your trip and farther away your destination, the more preparation you will need. Are passport, visa, special vaccinations required? Early on, write away for maps; some are available for free but arrive by mail; good local maps will help in the planning process. How about connections with researchers in the localities you will visit? Join some local societies, and start conversations with the local history groups, libraries, colleges, courthouses, archives and museums. Create a spreadsheet or table to gather names, contact information, closed dates, hours of operation. Before you leave, print your itinerary and the info sheet. Leave a copy at home with friends and family, too.  Prepare short biographies of ancestors who lived locally to leave in vertical files in libraries and archives. Ensure that each bio has your contact information; if...