Blogging is a great way to share the stories your research discovers. Not only will it grab your family’s attention, it can also attract research cousins – people researching the same families you are. There are a number of blog platforms available ranging from very simple to quite complex.
One of the easiest ways to get started blogging is Tumblr. Tumblr is part blog, part newsreader and part social network. In this example you are looking at my Tumblr newsfeed using the Tumblr app on my iPad. I choose which Tumblr blogs I want to follow and each new post from those accounts appear in my timeline.
Tumblr newsfeed on an iPad
In this example, I have the National Archives post visible and a post from Florida Memory below it.
The icons at the bottom of the post are used to share, reply, reblog or like the post. Tumblr doesn’t have a commenting element, but it does support connecting your Tumblr blog to the Disqus commenting system.
Tumblr and Disqus are both free to use. There are mobile apps for both iOS and Android devices so you can post stories and read posts from just about anywhere.
While the Tumblr newsreader view is easy to follow and easy to post, it isn’t the most attractive blog platform. No problem! You can also take advantage of Tumblr’s growing collection of themes to build an attractive website. Many of these themes are free and there are a number of premium themes if you really want to capture your family’s attention.
Here’s that same post displayed in my Tumblr newsfeed. Posts displayed in the newsfeed are listed in the order they are published. It isn’t as pretty as a custom theme, but it’s much easier to keep up with all the feeds you are following.
Tumblr post viewed in your timeline.
Blogging has many advantages for family historians. In addition to grabbing your family’s attention, it can also attract others. For example, the photo in this post attracted the daughter of one of the soldiers.
NOTE: Storytellers Studio blog has moved to Tumblr. You’ll find it at https://storytellers-studio.tumblr.com.
Want to learn more? WikiHow has a number of articles to help you get started. Begin with Create A Tumblr Account.
Do you have a large and growing collection of photographs? If so, you may want to take a look at Flickr. Flickr is more than just a photo-sharing platform. It’s also affordable off-site storage, a social center and a great place to connect with others researching the same people and places you are. A series of guides will help you get started with Flickr. Interested? You will find a guide to get you started with Flickr at the Storytellers Studio blog. Keep an eye on the Studio blog for more ideas and tips for using Flickr.
Whether you are new to genealogy research or a seasoned genealogist, Organize Your Genealogy by Drew Smith will help you manage every area of your research. These include:
developing habits to maximize your research time
hints on setting up your workspace
systems for organizing both paper and electronic documents
organizing tools
checklists and worksheets to apply the strategies included in the book
This book is available at Amazon in both print ($19.22) and Kindle ($12.99) formats. It is also available for check out at the South East Branch and Main libraries.
Federal Land Patents Versus Land Warrants
Final Notes
Each new post published at SAGS Support is automatically emailed to member subscribers and/or delivered to their newsreader. Research Notes is published every Monday morning and other articles are posted during the week. Subscribers have the option to control how often these updates are delivered. Look down at the bottom of this message and you will find a Manage Subscriptions link in the fine print as you see in this example. Click it and you will be taken to the WordPress.com Subscription Management page. Use the Delivery Frequency column to change your delivery options from “Immediate” to either “Daily” or “Weekly”.
Sample of the “fine print” at the bottom of each post.
Also down at the bottom of each delivered post is a Comment button. If you would like to comment on something discussed in a post or ask a question, just click the Comment button and you will be taken online to the comment section of the post where you can share your thoughts and read what others have shared.
To learn more, download a copy of the SAGS Support Guide.
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