Week 14 State and National Societies - 52 Weeks of Abundant Genealogy Week #14

Week 14. State and National Societies: Last week we paid tribute to local genealogical and historical societies. This week we’re going to think bigger. For which state, provincial or national society are you most thankful? What makes this society special? How do the publications and events of this group assist in your family history research?

I have to admit that I tend to go straight to the local county societies for information. Most of my parents' ancestors are from Ohio and Maryland, so I decided to check out the genealogy societies for those two states.

The Ohio Genealogy Society has several free databases online and some of their other databases are searchable. Benefits of membership include access to the online databases, newsletters, a lending library, and discounts on their publications among other things. The lending library looks especially intriguing since they have a reasonable mail order service for many items.

The Maryland Genealogy Society membership includes databases searchable by members, a surname exchange and queries for members and newsletters. They have an index to issues of their Bulletin newsletter from 1960 to present and many are available for purchase. It looks like you only have the option of a joint membership in both the MGS and the Maryland Historical Society, so membership is a little pricey.

In both cases, there are advantages to living nearby or being able to visit since you can access their many resources and events in person. Both sites have resources online that are worth taking a look at if your ancestors come from there.

52 Weeks of Abundant Genealogy by Amy Coffin is a series of weekly blogging prompts (one for each week of 2012) that invite genealogists and others to discuss resources in the genealogy community including websites, applications, libraries, archives, genealogical societies and more.