This newsletter and many other genealogy publications often refer to "your local genealogy society." The question is: how do you find such a society? Or, how do you find such a society in another part of the country where your ancestors lived? After all, if you live in Colorado but are looking for ancestors in Kentucky, you need to find the resources held by the Kentucky society. Then again, you may need to find a national society that specializes in specific ethnic groups, such as French-Canadian, Italian, Polish, or Quaker ancestry. Of course, your local society can always help immensely with research techniques and local resources but where can you find societies in another part of the country?
The FGS Society Hall Online can help you locate all of the above organizations. The Federation of Genealogical Societies (FGS) is a non-profit organization comprised of hundreds of genealogical and historical societies, family associations, and libraries, with a combined membership of over 500,000 members. FGS is actively involved in efforts to protect societies, promote education to help societies and their officers work more effectively, facilitate and coordinate society activities, and monitor events significant to the genealogical community. The Federation is the collective voice for genealogists at the national level. Its member societies number over 550 today. You can learn more about FGS at their website at http://www.fgs.org.
The FGS Society Hall is an online directory of information about member genealogical societies.
Located at http://www.fgs.org/societyhall, the FGS Society Hall site provides you the ability to search for genealogical societies by society name or keyword, or by state or by country or by any combination of those parameters. The search results will include all member societies that maintain a presence in the directory.
If you are looking for new resources, take a look at http://www.fgs.org/societyhall
