How to Do a Family Tree by Hand, the Way Families Used to Keep Them

The children, agents and towns of the placing-out years, 1854 to 1929, and what the records still say about them.

True stories families tell, set down by our writers and by readers who want them kept.

The reading rooms, archives and historical societies that keep local history, and how to use them well.

Songs, ballads and the old craft of telling a true story out loud, from front porches to library stages.

Census pages, court dockets, church books and city directories: how to find your people in the record and keep the search honest.

Depots, main streets, county museums and the small towns worth a detour.

How placing children has changed since the trains stopped, and what has stayed the same.

The objects that carry a family history, and how to label, store and pass them on.