Here’s an easy way to make a family history video quickly.

Pick one old photograph of an ancestor or relative from your family photo collection.

Using a smartphone or tablet, take a video of the photo. While you’re recording the video (while pointing at the photo) tell one short story about the ancestor so you’re recording your voice and the photo at the same time.

Hint: fill the screen with the photo so that’s all you see on the screen.

Next, share the video with your family.

Note: Be sure you have permission to use the photograph. Generally, a photo taken before 1923 is in the public domain. If you know who took the photo you should add a credit to the photographer at the end of your story.

Because the video is on your smartphone or tablet you can share it to social media sites, via message, to a shared Dropbox folder or a private family history sharing site. Download the video to your computer so you have a copy there.

Learn about more superpowers for sharing family history in the “Be A Family History Hero” webinar. Click on the text here: Be A Family History Hero Webinar to get instant access. 

Learn more about making Ancestor Story Videos in the Ancestors Alive On Video online course at AncestorsAliveOnVideo.com. 

What’s the biggest obstacle you face when starting out sharing your family history?

If you’re a genealogist, you’ve probably thought “Someday I’m going to write a big book about my whole family history.”

Just that thought creates big obstacles preventing you from sharing your hard-won research discoveries.

As the old adage goes, “Someday never comes.”

Also, the idea of a big book about your WHOLE family history is overwhelming! Just thinking about it makes you want to avoid it.

Here are three ways to overcome the obstacles you set up for yourself:

Way # 1 – Start today.

Way # 2 – Start small, not big.

Way # 3 – Get help.

Start by creating a short Ancestor Story Video to share with your family.

You can start today, with one small step, and get help by watching the Be A Family History Hero webinar. You’ll discover why video is a super powerful way to save your family history. Plus, we’ll talk about superpowers you can activate to easily build Ancestor Story Videos and become the Family History Hero of your family by sharing them. 

Get access today at vidgen.me/herowebb.

Photo credits:
Pavlofox on Pixabay.com
DepositPhotos

Location, location, location.

That maxim isn’t just for real estate. It’s a key concept for genealogy. Inserting a location in a search helps you turn up not only records but also images, including maps and photographs. Searching location terms plus “history” helps to narrow the search to your ancestral timeframe.

The stereograph shown above resulted from a search on “Savannah” in the New York Public Libraries Digital Collection. Gaze out into the harbor along with this wharf worker to see what my ancestors might have seen walking to work in Savannah, Georgia in the 1890s. 

I invite you to discover ancestral locations and historic images by taking a tour of online archives in the No Pictures? No Problem e-booklet. So what do you do with the digital treasures you find? Turn them into a video about an ancestor’s story that will amaze your family! Take a look at some examples in my Ancestor Story Videos YouTube playlist.

Image source: The Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Division of Art, Prints and Photographs: Photography Collection, The New York Public Library. “Along the wharf of Savannah River, Savannah, Ga.” (1895) New York Public Library Digital Collections. Accessed January 11, 2016. http://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/510d47e0-596a-a3d9-e040-e00a18064a99

I often get the question “I want to get my family videos, photos, slides, audio tapes and home movies digitized. What do you recommend?”

Here’s my answer, written especially for rabid genealogists and family historians.

Go here if you want the short answer (with a great vendor resource).

If you’ve decided you don’t want to do it yourself, finding a digitizing service you trust can be confusing and stressful, especially if you have LOTS of stuff. Take a deep breath, you don’t have to do it all at once or all alone, but do start.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Place a priority on digitizing magnetic tapes (Translation: video cassettes, audio cassettes, and reel-to-reel audio tapes). Why? Those media do degrade over time, and more quickly than you might think. Experts (archivists with the U.S. National Archives) recommend NOT digitizing videotapes yourself.

According to the U.S. National Archives website, “magnetic tapes generally have a lifespan of about 10 to 50 years … somewhere in the middle is most common. Those stored under lesser conditions and not handled carefully will probably have a significantly shorter lifespan.”

So if you want to preserve those precious video moments of your kids as babies and toddlers, do not wait.

The U.S. National Archives website offers excellent information about finding vendors to digitize magnetic tape media here.

You can access more information from the National Archives about digitizing your other precious family images and papers here.

The U.S. National Archives preserves important records and historical documents, like the Declaration of Independence, so they know their stuff! (If you enjoy going down historical rabbit holes just go to archives.gov and have fun browsing around.)

Next step question:

What should I do after I get my family’s precious images digitized?

Answer: Be sure to share the images and the stories behind the pictures with short, engaging videos so your family will start asking questions about those funny looking people (their ancestors and yeah, YOU) and the amazing things those ancestors did.

Learn how to easily create videos and share them with your family with the fun, activity-filled Ancestors Alive On Video course, where I’ll guide you step-by-step through the process of completing a video you can share with loved ones. (Note the emphasis on “completing.” You will actually make a video. How cool is that!)

Actually, it’s not only a course. With Ancestors Alive On Video, you will get access to a whole community of people who feel just as passionate about researching family history and sharing it with the next generation.

Plus, if you act quickly, you will get a special bonus – a *FREE* 30-minute consult with me, Margaret Eves. I love tapping into my 20-plus years experience as a librarian, video editor, and professional genealogist to help others find and share their ancestor stories. I look forward to hearing your questions!

You will find creating and sharing genealogy videos to be rewarding and helpful in discovering and sharing your ancestral legacy. (Think “new genealogy clues” and “cousin bait.”)

Start today! Click here to learn more.