Comments on: Careers in Genealogy – A 2012 Update

By: Kathy Wurth

Kathy Wurth — Wed, 18 Jul 2012 19:06:27 +0000

Kathy Wurth

A little late in joining the conversation but I always enjoy your posts so much Thomas but I was “out of the country” last week doing my genealogy job. Like a lot of people I have had a passion for a couple things throughout my life, genealogy + travel. I’ve been working on genealogy since 1978 and in the past 6 years having been leading ancestral tours to Germany, Ireland and a few other places in Europe. Sounds exciting, which it is, but it takes a lot of luck (getting a good European partner), work (I still have another “real job” so I am on a computer about 16-17 hours a day) and organizational skills. But one of the main rewards is seeing the excitement and hearing the stories of when people come back from visiting their hometowns. Like a Christmas present!

By: Kathryn

Kathryn — Sun, 15 Jul 2012 15:11:11 +0000

Great post Thomas. I love your definition of a ‘Franken-career’. I also think it would be boring to do just one thing.

One of my favorite activities is guiding my ‘french-roots’ American clients who come to France to do research on their ancestors. I usually do some leg-work before they arrive, then we enjoy together visiting churches and going through beautiful dusty registers (often several hundred years old). I of course help there with transcribing and translating.

I second your recommendation of APG and the ProGen program (I graduated from ProGen2). It was a fantastic experience.

By: Susan LeBlanc

Susan LeBlanc — Thu, 12 Jul 2012 17:58:24 +0000

Recently I posted on my blog at ‘gophergenealogy’ an article I wrote three years ago. It is odd that it coincides with your posts of this week. In the process of gaining a college degree focused in family history and becoming accredited through ICAPGen I learned so much, but my entire life has been a process of preparation for work in the field of genealogy. Our collective experiences build on our abilities to contribute in our chosen field. Thank you for sharing this post about careers. For now I work as a researcher, speaker, writer, compiler, organizer and try to give back for all that I have gained.

By: Thomas MacEntee

Thomas MacEntee — Wed, 11 Jul 2012 16:01:48 +0000

Cheryl

Not everything is free in genealogy. I’ll be discussing this more later today in this afternoon’s post.

By: Cheryl Millay

Cheryl Millay — Wed, 11 Jul 2012 15:57:27 +0000

Is there any sites to get FREE genealogy? Not trial bases but free. I did so much research with Rudi Ottery on our Brothertown Indian Tribe and when done she took it to print. I donated a copy to the Fond du Lac library it is called ” A Man Named Sampson “

By: Antra

Antra — Wed, 11 Jul 2012 02:51:09 +0000

Ancestral tours! That’s another one. I haven’t personally escorted any of my research clients on ancestral tours, because my time in Latvia hasn’t matched up with their visits, but I have put together some self-guided tours for them. One of my clients just got home from Latvia, and her family had a great time!

Another project that I’m working on, which fits across several of the categories there, is museum consulting. I have a diploma in museum studies, and am working together with the museum I did my internship at (a museum on Latvian emigration) to establish their genealogical centre. There are numerous museums across the world on emigration or immigration that can offer potential career paths for genealogists.

By: Michael Hait

Michael Hait — Wed, 11 Jul 2012 02:18:22 +0000

Just published a related post “Professional genealogists and genealogy professionals” at http://michaelhait.wordpress.com/2012/07/10/pro-gens-gen-pros/

Loving the series, as usual!

By: Alisha

Alisha — Wed, 11 Jul 2012 00:57:04 +0000

I adore Genealogy and my best friend and I have decided to give it a go as a business, so we are one of the Newbies! Finding that first client to get your ‘proof’ out there is definitely challenging, so we have offered, in your words, a “freemium” and waiting to see the response. I do blog, almost daily, and I really do enjoy it.

My niche is photography, always has been, although I need a better camera at this point, I am working on a project of photographing all the headstones in all the cemeteries in my county! Whew! Taking the pictures is the easy bit, cataloging, and editing is the long process. Excel is my F.R.I.E.N.D!

By: Debbe Hagner

Debbe Hagner — Tue, 10 Jul 2012 23:31:25 +0000

Investigator..

Some time lawyer will hired you to help him or her to find heirs.

I have had people ask me ti help them find their biological parents.

By: Heather K.

Heather K. — Tue, 10 Jul 2012 23:13:34 +0000

Fantastic summary! Seems like a nice buffet for individuals to scope out a niche. I also think the times of assembly line professional genealogy are over and has assumed a more jack of all trades atmosphere. Really, genealogy is such a multidisciplinary field and I think that your post reflects the evolving interests in the field.
If I could, I would like to point out that those with a background in genealogy could work in most libraries and archives as an assistant, specialist, etc. Almost all libraries and/or archives now require an MLIS/MS/MA for a librarian or archivist position. There is a large genealogy and genealogy librarianship or archivy.