For the final day of our 12 Days of Genealogy Media Resources, we’re highlighting the RootsTech website—a powerful, year-round resource for family historians.

In this episode, we talk about what you can do on the RootsTech website beyond the annual conference. We discuss how to search the site, explore on-demand educational videos, discover content from genealogy experts, and use RootsTech as an ongoing learning hub no matter where you are in your research journey. From beginner topics to more advanced methodology, the RootsTech platform offers a wide range of sessions that can help you build skills, find inspiration, and stay connected to the genealogy community.

If you’ve ever attended RootsTech—or wondered how to take advantage of its resources outside the conference—this episode will help you understand why the website is worth bookmarking and revisiting often.

🎧 Listen in as we wrap up the series and share how RootsTech fits into your genealogy media toolbox.

Explore RootsTech:
https://www.rootstech.org/

Support the show

Stay Connected with Journey Through the Generations

📬 Join Our Newsletter
Get exclusive genealogy tips, research tools, behind-the-scenes updates, and early access to new resources delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up at:
https://www.journeythroughthegenerations.com/newsletter

🌐 Explore More
Blog: https://www.journeythroughthegenerations.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JourneyThroughtheGenerations

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/journeythroughthegenerations/

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDVodHWarer8oea90hmbG9Q

☕ Support the Show
Buy Me a Coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/familyhistory

🎵 Music
Music provided by Third House Productions
https://soundcloud.com/third-house

If you enjoyed this episode, share it with your community!

For Day 11 of our 12 Days of Genealogy Media Resources, we’re focusing on Google Books and why it’s an essential—but often overlooked—tool for genealogy research.

In this episode, we talk about how Google Books allows researchers to full-text search millions of digitized books, including rare and out-of-print family histories, local and county histories, city directories, and other published records that may not be indexed anywhere else. These materials often contain references to ancestors that don’t appear in traditional genealogy databases.

We discuss how using specific search terms, name variations, and advanced search operators can dramatically improve your results, especially when researching common surnames. We also cover how filters—such as publication date ranges, content type, and “full view” availability—can help you focus on materials published during your ancestor’s lifetime.

If you’ve ever struggled to find context, background, or written references to your family beyond census and vital records, this episode will help you think differently about how books can support your genealogy research.

🎧 Listen in for practical strategies, real examples, and tips you can start using right away.

Support the show

Stay Connected with Journey Through the Generations

📬 Join Our Newsletter
Get exclusive genealogy tips, research tools, behind-the-scenes updates, and early access to new resources delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up at:
https://www.journeythroughthegenerations.com/newsletter

🌐 Explore More
Blog: https://www.journeythroughthegenerations.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JourneyThroughtheGenerations

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/journeythroughthegenerations/

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDVodHWarer8oea90hmbG9Q

☕ Support the Show
Buy Me a Coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/familyhistory

🎵 Music
Music provided by Third House Productions
https://soundcloud.com/third-house

If you enjoyed this episode, share it with your community!

For Day 10 of our 12 Days of Genealogy Media Resources, we’re talking about books and the critical role they play in genealogy and family history research. In this episode, we discuss what books can reveal that online records sometimes can’t, why preserving them matters, especially as books continue to be challenged and removed from libraries, and how written history helps protect our stories for future generations.

We also share personal experiences of finding our own families in books, highlighting how powerful and meaningful those discoveries can be.

🎧 Listen in for the books we discuss and why we believe every family historian should have them in their research toolbox.

Links

Blackville, Arkansas - Fashioned by a Former Slave: Stories from Individuals Who Remember Blackville - https://amzn.to/4p43LD0

Black Roots: A Beginner's Guide to Tracing the African American Family Tree - https://amzn.to/4p1Zv6W

Somerset Homecoming - https://amzn.to/4pFNPIl

The Family Tree Toolkit: A Comprehensive Guide to Uncovering Your Ancestry and Researching Genealogy - https://amzn.to/49iFRyW

The Complete Idiot's Guide to Genealogy - https://amzn.to/4qcD8N7

Some of the book links included in this episode’s show notes are affiliate links. This means we may earn a small commission if you choose to make a purchase through those links, at no additional cost to you. These commissions help support the work we do and allow us to continue creating genealogy and family history content. We only share resources we genuinely believe are valuable to researchers.

Support the show

Stay Connected with Journey Through the Generations

📬 Join Our Newsletter
Get exclusive genealogy tips, research tools, behind-the-scenes updates, and early access to new resources delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up at:
https://www.journeythroughthegenerations.com/newsletter

🌐 Explore More
Blog: https://www.journeythroughthegenerations.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JourneyThroughtheGenerations

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/journeythroughthegenerations/

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDVodHWarer8oea90hmbG9Q

☕ Support the Show
Buy Me a Coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/familyhistory

🎵 Music
Music provided by Third House Productions
https://soundcloud.com/third-house

If you enjoyed this episode, share it with your community!