![\"New](\"https:\/\/www.genealogyatheart.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/NEHGS-180x300.jpg\")
If you\u2019re planning a first visit, here\u2019s some tips I found useful:<\/p>\n
- \n
- \u00a0The library is SMALL but filled with tremendous resources that you might not find anywhere else.\u00a0 Don\u2019t let the size fool you!\u00a0 Obviously, the holdings are fantastic if you have New England relatives but there is also a sizable collection of Long Island and New Netherlands.\u00a0 My most awesome find was from Indiana, though, so don\u2019t discount other areas!<\/li>\n
- COST is free if you\u2019re a member (about $90.00 a year) and $20.00 if you aren\u2019t.\u00a0Click for\u00a0Info on Joining!<\/a> I highly recommend being a member for the following reasons : \u00a0First, if you\u2019re planning on spending a few days, it\u2019s cost effective.\u00a0 Second, as a member you get a lot of perks you wouldn\u2019t get with a day entrance fee \u2013 those wonderful journal articles that the society puts out, discounted fee on accessing a genealogist, training opportunities and so on.\u00a0 Third, you\u2019re helping the society keep the materials available to everyone.<\/li>\n
- BE PREPARED (Yay, Boy and Girl Scouts!) Seriously, know what you\u2019re trying to find before you get there so you don\u2019t waste valuable research time.\u00a0 You can do a search of the card catalog online at http:\/\/library.nehgs.org\/<\/a>\u00a0.\u00a0 If you haven\u2019t registered, which you can do even if you don\u2019t join the society, it\u2019s easy and if you save the search items, you can email them to yourself so you have it on your phone and tablet when you arrive.\u00a0 It saves results with the FLOOR listed so you know exactly where you need to look.\u00a0 Emailing saves a tree, time and having to juggle more stuff in the stacks!\u00a0 (HINT:\u00a0 Many of their holdings are digitized so you can peruse the text online and focus on books in the library that you can\u2019t view from home.)<\/li>\n
- To get familiar with the library you can watch their video, which I did, but if you\u2019re short of time you\u2019re fine if you don\u2019t watch it.\u00a0Scroll all the way down to the bottom of the page for the video.<\/a>\u00a0(HINT:\u00a0 Start on the 7th<\/sup> floor which is reference because those are the books you can\u2019t easily find elsewhere.)<\/li>\n
- Getting there is simple \u2013 I took a cab from Logan Airport because I had my heavy bag that I couldn\u2019t check into the hotel since I arrived too early.\u00a0 It was $23.00 without tip.\u00a0 Another option is to take the subway, called the T, which is super easy to navigate, inexpensive and available right from the airport to Copley Square.\u00a0 It\u2019s a short walk.\u00a0There are also parking garages close by if you drive which I would recommend against. \u00a0I learned to drive in Chicago and I drive in New York City but I never ever drive in Boston. \u00a0Those narrow streets and congestion intimidate me!<\/li>\n
- Lockers are available but they are very small and my large purse didn\u2019t fit.\u00a0 The website says NO SUITCASES so I packed light, stuffing everything in the bag, thinking I could get away with a purse.\u00a0 I mentioned this to one of the employees and she laughed and said they wouldn\u2019t have minded the suitcase.\u00a0 Oh, well.\u00a0 Since the flights were overbooked and there was no space in the overheads it all worked out anyway.\u00a0 Across from the lockers is a coat rack so I hung my coat (Wicked Boston cold last weekend, it was 89 degrees when I left Florida) and put my bag on the floor in the corner.\u00a0 No one messed with it.<\/li>\n
- Check the website for hours<\/a> and days opened, especially with the holidays approaching.\u00a0 I arrived shortly after 10 AM.\u00a0 There were few patrons researching and no one in the stacks so I was able to accomplish a lot in a little time.<\/li>\n
- When you arrive there is a welcome counter to your left where\u00a0I was given a map.\u00a0 They will check your membership before permitting you entry.\u00a0 Once you\u2019re checked, you will be directed to the elevator.<\/li>\n
- I was greeted by a wonderful genealogist on the 7th<\/sup> floor \u2013 she welcomed me, was willing to help me get started and was open to answering any questions I might have.\u00a0She had a client so another genealogist took over for her. \u00a0He was very professional, too, and gave me the wireless access. \u00a0I always bring just my Kindle as I find it’s a light, space saving alternative to a laptop. \u00a0With access to my online tree I can fact check right in the stacks. \u00a0The internet was spotty, though.<\/li>\n
- The stacks are narrow and dark.\u00a0 There is a small counter in the midst so you can put your finds on the counter and snap a picture of the page.\u00a0 You can also use their copy machine or save to a thumb drive but my smart phone\u2019s camera is good with low light so I could happily click away.\u00a0 I like that approach because I tend to look at many volumes and it wastes time to carry them to a copier, wait for the copier to warm up, and you know the rest.\u00a0 Read an interesting article in Family History Daily that recommends the use of other devices.\u00a0 View\u00a0here<\/a>\u00a0for other ideas but I\u2019m good with my phone.<\/li>\n
- BRING PENCILS \u2013 they don\u2019t allow pens.\u00a0 I did print a concise list of the books I wanted to see and wrote my notes, mostly negative findings, on the margin to transfer to my tree notes later.\u00a0 Here\u2019s an example:\u00a0 \u201cNo Adams, Cole or Dennis.\u201d \u00a0To me, that means those are the surnames I checked out but there were no references in the index to them.\u00a0 That way, I know later if there was another surname I overlooked and I’ll not have to recheck the source in another library for what I’ve already checked.<\/li>\n
- \u00a0BRING A MAGNIFYING GLASS or have an ap on your phone.\u00a0 I miss my young eyes, I really do!<\/li>\n
- BRING POST IT NOTES.\u00a0 You can quickly flag pages to take pictures of findings without having to flip back and forth to the index and they\u2019re reusable.<\/li>\n
- Once I finished with the 7th<\/sup> floor I moved to the 5th<\/sup>.\u00a0 No warm and fuzzy welcome there \u2013 two young ladies didn\u2019t even look up from the desk when I entered.\u00a0 What\u2019s cool about these stacks is there is a light switch from the aisle you can turn on to get more overhead light.\u00a0 Very useful!<\/li>\n
- After you\u2019ve checked out your pre-identified books you may have additional time to look over the stacks.\u00a0 That\u2019s how I discovered my most intriguing current genealogical mystery.\u00a0 Hmmm \u2013 why would my husband\u2019s grandmother be enrolled in school at age 7 by someone named Frank?\u00a0 Have NO ONE named Frank in that line.\u00a0 It could be Frank\u2019s name is an error or the record is for someone else in the area with the same name as hubby\u2019s grandma (not likely, though, since I\u2019ve been over the census numerous times without finding another with her name and she has an unusual first and middle name!).\u00a0 Immediately texted hubby and asked \u201cWho\u2019s Frank?\u201d\u00a0 He didn\u2019t know so now I\u2019m on a hunt to discover more.\u00a0 The book was a transcript of school enrollment for the late 1800\u2019s in Indiana.\u00a0 Must find the original record to make sure Frank is correct!<\/li>\n
- Food and directions – ask at the front desk on the first floor. \u00a0The first person there was a volunteer not from the area but she was so sweet she phoned someone to help me. \u00a0I ate at a pizza place inside the YWCA but there’s many places to get a quick bite. \u00a0I only stopped there because I was freezing and it was half way to my hotel so I could eat and warm up for a bit.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
S \u00a0 \u00a0I’ll definitely come back after my portfolio has been submitted and spend time trying to uncover more of our New England ancestors. \u00a0So much to look at and so little time!<\/p>\n
My finding at NEHGS also confirms what professionals emphasize \u2013 you have to look high and low to find proof.\u00a0 I can\u2019t explain why I found my husband\u2019s several times great grandfather from New York\u2019s place of burial in Salt Lake City and his Indiana grandmother\u2019s school enrollment in Boston.\u00a0 What\u2019s strange is I looked for the burial records in numerous places in New York and never found them.\u00a0 I never looked for school enrollment records in Indiana so I can\u2019t say that they don\u2019t exist there, I just find it odd to find it in Boston.\u00a0 My point is check as much as you can about everyone everywhere you go. \u00a0I also find it interesting on Who Do You Think You Are celebrities fly from place to place to trace their families. Lucky for them, their family records are ALWAYS where they lived. \u00a0Clearly mine are not!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Originally published on genealogyatheart.blogspot.com on 18 Nov 2015. Last weekend I had the pleasure of researching at the New England Historic and Genealogical Society in Boston, Massachusetts. If you\u2019re planning a first visit, here\u2019s some tips I found useful: \u00a0The library is SMALL but filled with tremendous resources that you might not find anywhere else.\u00a0 … Continue reading “Visiting the New England Historic and Genealogical Society”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[199,198,200],"class_list":["post-221","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-boots-on-the-ground-researching","tag-boston","tag-nehgs","tag-research"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogyatheart.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/221","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogyatheart.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogyatheart.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogyatheart.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogyatheart.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=221"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogyatheart.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/221\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":430,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogyatheart.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/221\/revisions\/430"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogyatheart.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=221"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogyatheart.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=221"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogyatheart.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=221"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
- BE PREPARED (Yay, Boy and Girl Scouts!) Seriously, know what you\u2019re trying to find before you get there so you don\u2019t waste valuable research time.\u00a0 You can do a search of the card catalog online at http:\/\/library.nehgs.org\/<\/a>\u00a0.\u00a0 If you haven\u2019t registered, which you can do even if you don\u2019t join the society, it\u2019s easy and if you save the search items, you can email them to yourself so you have it on your phone and tablet when you arrive.\u00a0 It saves results with the FLOOR listed so you know exactly where you need to look.\u00a0 Emailing saves a tree, time and having to juggle more stuff in the stacks!\u00a0 (HINT:\u00a0 Many of their holdings are digitized so you can peruse the text online and focus on books in the library that you can\u2019t view from home.)<\/li>\n