RECORDS · NEWSPAPERS · PHOTOGRAPHS · REMEMBRANCEA FREE WEEKLY PUBLICATIONEST. 2026

Beyond the headstone.

EVERY FAMILY HAS A STORY WORTH PRINTING.

VOL. I · NO. 1NOVEMBER 2026 · UNITED STATESPREVIEW EDITION · FREE ONLINE

PREVIEWTHIS IS A DEMONSTRATION EDITION. THE NAME IS A WORKING TITLE. NO ADVERTISERS OR SPONSORS YET.

Where the Records Are: A Free Index Opens

14 Free Record Sources in the First Week

Census, Newspapers, Graves, Ships and Land

A family-history paper for the searchers, the keepers of the shoebox, and anyone who never got to say goodbye.

FROM THE EDITOR'S DESK

Most family history is locked behind a paywall or scattered across a hundred websites. This paper starts with a simple promise: every week, a plain list of places you can search for free, checked before it is printed.

It is edited by Christine Burke von Riddern, FGG, author of 13 books, including Concrete Clues, a #1 Amazon bestseller in Genealogy.

THE WEEKLY FEATURE

The Record-Room Index

Free sources, sorted by type, with what each one holds. New sources are added every issue.

THE RECORD ROOM — Free sources, checked and printed every week. (Illustration.)

Find Them in the Old Papers

OLD-NEWSPAPER FINDS

Obituaries are only the start. Small-town papers printed who visited whom, who was ill and who sold the farm. Our column shows how to find those notices, even through bad scans.

FROM THE PUBLISHERYOUR AD HEREReach Family Researchers

Archives, DNA tests, photo scanning and keepsake books. Rates to be set.

THE PHOTO MYSTERY

Who Is in the Shoebox?

DATING OLD PHOTOGRAPHS

A tintype is iron; a magnet will stick to it. A daguerreotype flashes like a mirror. The format of a photograph is the first clue to when it was made.

“A headstone gives two dates. The family gives the story.”

INSIDE

A Note on Honesty

Nothing in this paper is invented. Reader finds, photographs and remembrances will be printed only with permission, and every advertisement will be labeled.

Beyond the Headstone

A PROPOSED REMEMBRANCE COLUMN

For the funerals that could not happen and the graves no one in the family has visited: a free column where families tell the life story in their own words and their own photographs.

The Herald by Post

One short e-mail every week.

THIS WEEK IN THE RECORD-ROOM INDEX

FAMILYSEARCH

Billions of indexed records, digitized microfilm and a shared family tree, run by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Free with a free account.

CHRONICLING AMERICA (LIBRARY OF CONGRESS)

Digitized historic American newspaper pages, searchable by word, state and date. Free.

NATIONAL ARCHIVES: GENEALOGY

The U.S. National Archives' starting point for census, military, immigration and land records. Free to search.

NATIONAL ARCHIVES CATALOG

Search the National Archives' online catalog, including many digitized documents. Free.

FREE TO READ · FREE TO SEARCH ·

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PAGE 2The Family History Herald^™VOL. I · NO. 1 · NOVEMBER 2026

THE WEEKLY FEATURE · FREE TO SEARCH

14 Free Places to Search for Your Family

Every link opened and checked before printing. Paid sites are never listed as free.

SOURCE	TYPE	WHAT IT HOLDS	COST
FamilySearch www.familysearch.org/en	All records	Billions of indexed records, digitized microfilm and a shared family tree, run by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.	Free with a free account
Chronicling America (Library of Congress) www.loc.gov/collections/chronicling-america	Newspapers	Digitized historic American newspaper pages, searchable by word, state and date.	Free
National Archives: Genealogy www.archives.gov/research/genealogy	Federal records	The U.S. National Archives' starting point for census, military, immigration and land records.	Free to search
National Archives Catalog catalog.archives.gov	Federal records	Search the National Archives' online catalog, including many digitized documents.	Free
National Archives: Census Records www.archives.gov/research/census	Census	How to find and use U.S. federal census records.	Free guide
National Archives: Freedmen's Bureau Records www.archives.gov/research/african-americans/freedmens-bureau	African American	Guide to Reconstruction-era Bureau records, a key source for African American family history.	Free guide
Statue of Liberty–Ellis Island Foundation heritage.statueofliberty.org	Immigration	Passenger records for arrivals through the Port of New York.	Free with a free account
BLM General Land Office Records glorecords.blm.gov	Land	Federal land patents (homestead and other land grants) issued by the U.S. government.	Free
Find a Grave www.findagrave.com	Cemeteries	Volunteer-built memorial pages and headstone photos for cemeteries worldwide.	Free
BillionGraves billiongraves.com	Cemeteries	GPS-tagged headstone photos transcribed by volunteers.	Free to search
Internet Archive: Genealogy archive.org/details/genealogy	Books & directories	Digitized county histories, family histories and city directories.	Free
Google News Archive news.google.com/newspapers	Newspapers	Scanned back issues of some newspapers, browsable by title.	Free
Portal to Texas History (UNT) texashistory.unt.edu	Newspapers	Texas newspapers, photographs, maps and documents from the University of North Texas Libraries.	Free
Cyndi's List www.cyndislist.com	Directory	A long-running, categorized directory of genealogy links.	Free

HOW TO USE THE INDEX

Start Broad

Begin with FamilySearch and the census. A census every ten years places a family in a household, a town and a decade.

Then Go Local

County histories, city directories and local papers fill in what federal records leave out.

Visit the Graves

Headstone photos give dates and family plots. Read neighboring stones; relatives were often buried together.

FROM THE PUBLISHERSPONSOR THE INDEXOne Sponsor a Week

A labeled notice at the top of the Record-Room Index. Rates to be set.

THE FULL INDEX IS ONLINE AT /SOURCES/ ·

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A WEEKLY COLUMN

What the Certificates Leave Out

Obituaries, society columns, legal notices and the small-town "personals."

FIVE SEARCH HABITS THAT FIND MORE

Beating the Bad Scan

Old newspapers were scanned and read by software, and old type is easy to misread. A name you know is on the page may not come up in a search. These habits help.

Search spellings, not just names. Try initials, nicknames and likely misspellings.
Search the husband's name for a married woman. Older papers often printed "Mrs. John Smith."
Search the street address or the farm. Addresses survive bad scans better than surnames.
Read the whole page. Small-town columns list visitors, illnesses and trips without a headline.
Check the week after. Funeral reports, cards of thanks and estate notices follow an obituary.

Where to Search Free

THE STARTING LIST

Chronicling America at the Library of Congress holds digitized historic American newspapers.

Google News Archive has scanned back issues of some papers.

The Portal to Texas History covers Texas papers.

Many state libraries run free newspaper projects of their own.

Readers' Finds

FROM THE MAILBAG

When the paper opens, readers may send the best notice they have found about their own family. It will be printed with permission and with the source cited.

None are shown yet, and none will ever be invented.

FROM THE PUBLISHERYOUR AD HERENewspaper Archives

Reach readers who search old papers every week. Rates to be set.

WHAT EACH KIND OF NOTICE CAN TELL YOU

Obituaries

Survivors and where they lived, the church, the cemetery, the employer and sometimes the town of birth.

Society Columns

Who visited whom, who travelled, who was ill. Relatives often appear here years before or after a death.

Legal Notices

Estate settlements, land sales and name changes, often naming heirs and executors.

Cards of Thanks

Printed after a funeral, they can name the family members who signed them.

READ THE WHOLE PAGE ·

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A WEEKLY COLUMN

Who Is in the Shoebox?

The format of a photograph is the first clue to its date.

A Field Guide to Old Photographs (Approximate Years)

Daguerreotype Mirror-like silver image on metal, in a hinged case.	1839 to about 1860
Ambrotype Image on glass backed with black.	Mid-1850s to the 1860s
Tintype Image on thin dark iron; a magnet sticks.	From 1856
Carte de visite Small print on a calling-card-sized mount.	U.S., from about 1860
Cabinet card Larger print on stiff card, studio name below.	About the 1870s to early 1900s
Real-photo postcard Photograph on postcard stock.	From the early 1900s

Formats overlapped. Treat these as a starting range, not a verdict.

Other Clues

READING THE PICTURE

The studio imprint. City directories show the years a photographer worked at an address.

Clothing and hair. Sleeves, collars and hairstyles changed every few years.

The back. Even a first name and a town narrow the search.

Send Us Your Mystery

OPENS WITH THE FIRST ISSUE

Readers will be able to send one family photograph a week, with permission to print it. Nothing can be sent from this preview.

FROM THE PUBLISHERYOUR AD HEREPhoto Scanning

Reach families with boxes of old photographs. Rates to be set.

CARING FOR OLD PHOTOGRAPHS

Keep Them Cool

Store photographs somewhere cool, dry and dark, not in an attic or a damp basement.

Hold the Edges

Handle prints by their edges, with clean, dry hands.

Pencil, Not Ink

Label the back lightly in soft pencil; ink can bleed through over time.

Scan Before You Share

Make a digital copy before lending an original to anyone.

A MAGNET TELLS A TINTYPE ·

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PAGE 5The Family History Herald^™VOL. I · NO. 1 · NOVEMBER 2026

A PROPOSED REMEMBRANCE COLUMN · NOT YET OPEN

For the Funerals That Could Not Happen

A headstone gives a name and two dates. The family gives the story.

HOW THE COLUMN WOULD WORK

The Life, Not Just the Dates

Some funerals never happened. Some relatives were never talked about. Some graves have never been visited by anyone in the family. Beyond the Headstone is planned as a free column where families can tell the story in their own words.

Families write it. A relative sends a short remembrance and photographs they own.
No copying. Nothing is taken from social media or other memorial sites.
No imitation. No artificial voice or chatbot speaks as the person who died.
Room for hard stories. Adoptees and families with surprise DNA results choose what is printed.
Free. The column is paid for by labeled advertising.

The First Remembrance

COMING WITH THE FIRST ISSUE

The first remembrance will be printed only when a family is ready, and with their permission. This space is left open on purpose.

“For the people a headstone photo leaves out.”

Visiting a Grave

FREE CEMETERY SOURCES

Find a Grave and BillionGraves hold volunteer photographs of headstones. Read the stones nearby; families were often buried together.

FROM THE PUBLISHERYOUR AD HEREMemorial & Keepsake

Reach families preserving a life story. Rates to be set.

HOW TO WRITE A REMEMBRANCE

Start Small

Begin with one detail only family would know: a laugh, a recipe, a saying.

Name the Places

Towns, streets, churches and workplaces help other relatives find the same person.

Be Gentle With Hard Parts

Families choose what is printed. Some things can stay private.

Say Who Remains

Children, grandchildren and the cousins still looking for each other.

NOT YET OPEN · NOTHING CAN BE SUBMITTED FROM THIS PREVIEW ·

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PAGE 6The Family History Herald^™VOL. I · NO. 1 · NOVEMBER 2026

THE PAPER BY POST · THE MARKETPLACE

One Short E-mail a Week · Free

Every advertisement and affiliate link labeled, always.

In Every Weekly Issue

New free sources in the Record-Room Index	✓
One old-newspaper find, with the search that found it	✓
One photo mystery	✓
One remembrance, with permission	✓
One labeled sponsor notice	When sponsors come

Not sending yet. Addresses will never be sold or shared.

Advertise in the Paper

Archives, DNA tests, photo scanning, archival supplies, keepsake books, genealogy software, societies and conferences. Display, index sponsorship, newsletter notices and business-card listings. Rates will be set once readership is measured.

INDEX OF THIS EDITION

PUBLICATION NOTICE

The Family History Herald™ is a working title for a proposed free weekly family-history paper and newsletter. Edited by Christine Burke von Riddern, FGG, author of 13 books, including Concrete Clues, a #1 Amazon bestseller in Genealogy. Preview edition; not launched.

Beyond the headstone.

THE BUSINESS-CARD DIRECTORY · OPEN TO ADVERTISERS

Records & Archives

Newspaper archives, record subscriptions and library services for family researchers.

DNA & Photographs

DNA testing, photo and film scanning, restoration and archival storage.

Keepsakes & Stories

Family-story books, printed family trees, heirloom albums and memorial keepsakes.

Our Promise

Every advertisement is labeled. Every affiliate link is disclosed. Advertisers never see readers' details.

THE FAMILY HISTORY HERALD™ · BEYOND THE HEADSTONE. ·

THE FAMILY HISTORY HERALD™ · VOL. I, NO. 1PREVIEW EDITION · WORKING TITLEPAGE SIX

Where the Records Are: A Free Index Opens

The Record-Room Index

Find Them in the Old Papers

Who Is in the Shoebox?

INSIDE

A Note on Honesty

Beyond the Headstone

The Herald by Post

The Record-Room Index

Start Broad

Then Go Local

Visit the Graves

Old-Newspaper Finds

Beating the Bad Scan

Where to Search Free

Readers' Finds

Obituaries

Society Columns

Legal Notices

Cards of Thanks

Photo Mysteries

A Field Guide to Old Photographs (Approximate Years)

Other Clues

Send Us Your Mystery

Keep Them Cool

Hold the Edges

Pencil, Not Ink

Scan Before You Share

Beyond the Headstone

The Life, Not Just the Dates

The First Remembrance

Visiting a Grave

Start Small

Name the Places

Be Gentle With Hard Parts

Say Who Remains

The Herald by Post

In Every Weekly Issue

Advertise in the Paper

INDEX OF THIS EDITION

PUBLICATION NOTICE

Records & Archives

DNA & Photographs

Keepsakes & Stories

Our Promise