Blog
Questions to ask, ways to record, and ideas for keeping your family's stories.
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Traditions
Day of the Dead: how to keep the stories of the people we've lost
How to use the ofrenda and Día de Muertos to ask the older people in your family who your loved ones really were, with questions to ask and a simple way to record the answers.
Family history
DNA tests for family history, what they can and can't tell you
How consumer DNA tests work for genealogy, the difference between autosomal, Y-DNA and mtDNA tests, what ethnicity estimates really mean, how to use DNA matches, and the privacy questions to think about first.
Family history
Free genealogy websites and tools, and what each one is good for
The best free genealogy websites and tools for tracing your family history, including FamilySearch, census records, Find a Grave, historic newspapers and free library access, plus when a paid site is worth it.
Family history
How to find your ancestors' immigration records
Where to find US immigration records for your ancestors, including passenger lists, border crossing records from Mexico, naturalization papers, census clues and USCIS files, and how to use them to find the hometown.
Family history
How to start researching your family history, a beginner's guide
A step-by-step guide to starting your family history research, from talking to relatives and gathering documents at home to building a family tree and searching free online records.
Family history
How to trace your Mexican ancestors, records, parishes and archives
A guide to finding Mexican ancestors in civil registration records, Catholic parish records, the 1930 census and state archives, mostly free online, with tips on two surnames and Spanish-language records.
How-to
How to record a parent's life story, step by step
A practical guide to recording your mom's or dad's life story at home: what to prepare, how to interview them, how to handle memory gaps and emotional moments, and how to keep the recordings safe.
Questions
100 questions to ask your grandparents (and how to ask them)
100 questions to ask your grandparents about childhood, love, work, hard times and family traditions, plus simple ways to turn short answers into real stories.