Increasingly popular among adults, genealogy can also be a high interest way of drawing children into the study of history by making personal connections to the past and encouraging intergenerational discussions. Genealogy is a tool that can cross many disciplines beyond history, such as writing, science (particularly genetics), and art.
The Newberry Library staff encourages teachers to make use of the Local and Family History collections in preparing course materials. The following resources are outlined for your convenience. If you have questions, please contact a genealogy reference librarian.
Local and Family History Collection Summaries and Catalog Search Strategies: Specifics about the Newberry's collection and how to determine what the Library holds.
Beginning Genealogy: Tips on how to get started.
Introduction to Internet Genealogy : Basics of finding your ancestors online, including links to useful sites.
Correspondence Services:
Using the Newberry Library: Frequently asked questions about the using the Newberry's resources.
Class Visits: Students must be over sixteen or juniors in High School to use the Newberry’s Reading Rooms.
Programs for Teachers: Chicago Teachers as Scholars program.
The Ancestors PBS series offers teacher's guides to the ten 30-minute episodes of the first series and to the thirteen 30-minute episodes of the second series . Each guide provides lessons tied to specific episodes with worksheets, projects, online exercises, vocabulary, writing assignments, and field trip suggestions. The guides can be used online by students or downloaded and distributed to a class by the teacher. These lessons could be used without the video series. Videos can be purchased from the Web site or many public libraries have a set to loan. The Newberry Library has a set of the first series and the teacher's guide that can be loaned out to teachers in the Chicago area. Contact the Jack Simpson, Curator of Local and Family History at simpsonj@newberry.org or at 312.255.3531 for more information.
The National Genealogical Society’s Youth Resources section features lists of books and articles as well as links to lesson plans. Resources are also available through their online bookstore, including the NGS Beginners Kit with Teachers Guide. “This 12-page guide contains teaching suggestions for each section of the beginner's kit, a bibliography for educators, plus reproducible activity sheets and charts. Primarily for use in grades 7 through 12.”
A new NGS resource for teachers is "Hunting for Your Heritage.” This comic book introduces children to genealogy using a full color adventure story to teach children about ancestors, descendants, generations and family trees. The book includes a blank pedigree chart and family group sheet that researchers can copy and use. Pricing based on volume of order.
"Oral History Projects in Your Classroom" by Linda P. Wood, with introduction by Marjorie L. McLellan, 2001. Paper, 3-hole punched notebook format. “This guide, written for classroom teachers, includes sample forms, handouts, numerous examples, curriculum suggestions and discussion questions, taken directly from real-life classroom oral history projects around the country.” Published and sold by the Oral History Association.
History/Social Studies Web Site for K-12 Teachers’ genealogy section features links to many online resources for genealogy.
Cyndi's List of Genealogy Sites on the Internet, a popular directory of genealogy Web resources, has a section for Kids and Teens. This section includes pages designed for kids to use, pages for teachers, and print and audio resources.