Emily Croom's Lecture Topics

Enliven your group’s programs with presentations from the list below. These topics are available for genealogical, historical, and lineage societies as well as church, community, retirement home, and other groups. All the topics pertain to United States genealogy and/or research. Many of them use research examples or case studies to illustrate the sources or techniques discussed.

Click on a topic title to learn more about the presentation. You may contact me regarding fees and available dates. If you are interested in a topic not listed here, contact me to ask about it.

1. To a Stake in the Prairie: Using Land Records in Genealogy
2. For the Settling of My Temporal Estate: Using Probate Records in Genealogy
3. Abiding and Leaving: City Directories and Obituaries
   (NEW topic in 2008)
4. The Last Word, or Uncle Harry Made the Newspaper...Finally (NEW topic in 2010)
5. Finding Their Names in Print: Using Newspapers in Genealogy
6. Location, Location, Location: Using Maps in Genealogy
   (NEW topic in 2004)
7. The Census: Is What You See Always What You Get?
   (Revised in 2007)
8. Lost in 1890? What To Do When the Census is Missing
   (NEW topic in 2006)
9. Splitting the Blanket: Divorce in America (NEW topic in 2010)
10. The Territorial Papers of the United States (Revised in 2011)
11. Old Dominion Research: Our Virginia Ancestors
12. Genealogy in the Urban South
    (NEW topic in 2005)
13. Digging for Roots in Dixie. (NEW topic in 2011.)
14. Sifting Through the Ashes: Research in "Burned Counties"
    (NEW topic in 2005)
15. Their Place in Time: Broadening the Perspective Beyond Dates and Places
16. Show and Tell: Sharing Your Results
17. Genealogy 101: Getting Started (Revised in 2007)
18. The "R" Word Need Not Be Scary
19. FAQs and Answers
20. Timely Tools for Genealogists
    (NEW topic in 2004)
21. Proof and the Paper Trail: Documenting Your Research
22. Detour! Bridge Out Ahead: Alternate Approaches to Genealogical Problems. (NEW topic in 2007)
23. If at First You Don't Succeed, What Do You Try, Try Again ... To Find That Unknown Generation? (NEW topic in 2007)
24. Seeing is Not Always Believing: Avoiding False Assumptions
    (NEW topic in 2008)
25. Hidden in Plain Sight: Details We Sometimes Miss
    (NEW topic in 2008)
26. You're Known by the Company You Keep: Cluster Genealogy, an Essential Tool for Research
27. Likely, Logical, and Convincing: Resolving Conflicting Evidence
    (NEW topic in 2004)
28. You Be the Judge: Considering the Evidence
    (NEW topic in 2009)
29. Don't Break a Leg Jumping to Conclusions (NEW topic in 2010)
30. Picking the Lock: Opening Up Genealogical Possibilities (NEW topic in 2010)
31. Not a Brick Wall Until...
    (Revised in 2009)
32. Gooly Girl and Fryed Ham: Building Your Case, A Genealogist's Tool Kit
    (NEW in 2006)
33. The Other Half of the Story: Researching Female Ancestors (Revised in 2007)
34. Oft-Overlooked Ancestors: The Mother Half. (NEW topic in 2011)
35. My Dear Children: Letters, Diaries, Family Bibles, & Other Family Papers (NEW in 2011)
36. Roadblocks to My Research
    (NEW topic in 2008)
37. An Entertaining Look at Genealogy