Volunteers Preserve History

The month of April honors and celebrates all the hard work volunteers contribute to society and how they help preserve history.

A special thank you to volunteers who devote their time to saving local history.

If you are interested in genealogy and would like to start volunteering, here are some ideas.

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Local Historical Societies or Genealogical Groups

Check you local area for Historical Society Groups that you can join and participate with for your community.

Some historical societies are incorporated in the library of a town.

If there is a Chamber of Commerce in your area they may have information to provide for identifying groups.

Some ways, both big and small, to volunteer in a historical society are:

• donating records, photographs, or historical artifacts
• helping at fundraising events
• digitizing or organizing photos and paperwork
• sharing and inviting people to participate
• donating money or fundraising (check Amazon Smile to see if your local organization has an account)
• volunteering your time for miscellaneous tasks (building & grounds, paperwork, accounting, running meetings, designing flyers, promoting events etc.)
• some historical societies have community fundraising yard sales. You can donate material items for the society to sell at their event.

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Providing Cemetery Information to Databases

FindAGrave.com is a great genealogy resource for finding information on where an ancestor is buried.

FindAGrave is a virtual cemetery to memorialize burials in a digital way.

The website’s services can help genealogists all over the world find important facts.

But without volunteers there would be no information to discover.

There are multiple ways to contribute on FindAGrave.com

You can add memorials, upload photos, transcribe pictures, support photo requests, suggest edits, upload spreadsheets, and create a virtual cemetery.

Genealogy Themed Social Media Groups

You can join, contribute, and help community social media groups focused on genealogy, local history, connecting family members, identifying details in pictures, and assisting with lost and found items.

If you are lucky there may also be family groups created with your surname!

Search in the Groups section of Facebook to find a topic you are interested in. Some examples of available groups are:

• New York State Unidentified and Family Photos
• Old Photo Project: Returning Families Long Lost Photos
• Northern Italian Genealogy
• Polish Genealogy
• New York State Genealogy
• Family Treasures Found
• Family Treasures Found Unidentified
• Family Bibles, Photos, and Heirloom Reunions
• Family Trees and Genealogy
• Genetic Genealogy Tips and Techniques
• The Genealogy Squad
• New York State Vintage Postcards and Historic Photographs
• Postcards of the United States of America
• Cemeteries of the United States of America
• Postcards of Orange County NY
• Cemeteries of Orange County NY
• Cemeteries of Rockland County NY

These suggestions are just a few of many avenues to participate in volunteering in genealogy areas.

Organizations in your local area may be able to provide other opportunities to get involved.