Tag-Archive for » School Records «

Summer is almost over and it’s time for the kids to go back school.  I have been going through old school papers trying to determine what to keep for my children. Do I keep their best papers, art projects, report cards?  Knowing what to keep for future generations is a challenge.  I have thought of scanning the report cards and maybe some papers, but will I keep the files up to date with the latest technology so they can be read?

I have been looking at some ideas in Katherine Scott Sturdevant’s book on Bringing Your Family History to Life through Social History.  I know it is important now to date the items I keep and record who they belong to.  Taking the time now to record who the friends are in the class pictures will be helpful for my children when and if they decide to look at what I have kept for them.

As the school year comes to a close, I think about how exciting it was to find the school enrollment records for ancestors.  Knowing when each sibling attended school, if there was a discipline issue and what grade they received, provided for a better understanding of their earlier days.

The home addresses listed showed where the family moved to and which children grew up together.  In most cases the parents were listed and that helped clarify a few loose ends of multiple children with the same first and last names.

Hidden Sources by Laura Szucs Pfeiffer discusses school records and their value in finding other genealogical record groups.