All Rights Reserved © KBZ 2021 - Last updated: 28 April 2023
Introduction
Excursus - About Exploration of Sources
Basic principles of research,
not only, but in particular for „hobby researchers“ should be:
From
Known
to
Unknown:
first
explore
and
analyse
known
and
already
available
sources,
such
as
documents,
papers
and
photographs
in
own
or
relatives‘
possession
in
order
to
gain
an
initial
overview
of
family
members
with
life
data
and
to
create
a
first
family
tree
as
starting
point
for
future
research,
before
starting/continuing
search elsewhere.
From
Easily
accessible
to
Hard
to
get
a
hold
of:
in
the
digital
age,
first
comfortably
consult
internet
and
online
databases,
before,
with
considerable
effort,
„ploughing“
through
books
in
a
library
or
visiting
public
or
private
archives in person.
From
Affordable
to
Expensive:
first
explore
sources
free
of
charge
before
using
offers
for
assistance,
which
come
with
a
fee;
first
research
on
your
own
and/or
use
help
from
one
of
the
various
genealogical
societies
with
their
chatrooms,
before
hiring
an
archivist
or
professional
researcher
for
a
considerable
fee;
start
from
your
desk
at
home before traveling the country at considerable cost;
From
Reasonable
to
Unexpected:
first
search
for
obviously
relevant
data/information,
such
as
the
family
name
in
its
current
spelling
or
its
appearance
in
an
already
known
region,
before
investigating
in
a
direction,
which
at
first
glance
one
would
consider
obviously
unlikely,
for
example
the
spelling
of
the
family
name
almost
out
of
all
recognition or its appearance in another country or even continent.
1
2
3
4
E x c u r s u s
About Exploration of Sources
All Rights Reserved © KBZ 2021 - Last updated: 28 April 2023
Basic
principles
of
research,
not
only,
but
in
particular
for
„hobby
researchers“ should be:
Introduction
1
2
3
4
From
Known
to
Unknown:
first
explore
and
analyse
known
and
already
available
sources,
such
as
documents,
papers
and
photographs
in
own
or
relatives‘
possession
in
order
to
gain
an
initial
overview
of
family
members
with
life
data
and
to
create
a
first
family
tree
as
starting
point
for
future
research,
before
starting/continuing search elsewhere.
From
Easily
accessible
to
Hard
to
get
a
hold
of:
in
the
digital
age,
first
comfortably
consult
internet
and
online
databases,
before,
with
considerable
effort,
„ploughing“
through
books
in
a library or visiting public or private archives in person.
From
Affordable
to
Expensive:
first
explore
sources
free
of
charge
before
using
offers
for
assistance,
which
come
with
a
fee;
first
research
on
your
own
and/or
use
help
from
one
of
the
various
genealogical
societies
with
their
chatrooms,
before
hiring
an
archivist
or
professional
researcher
for
a
considerable
fee;
start
from
your
desk
at
home
before
traveling the country at considerable cost;
From
Reasonable
to
Unexpected:
first
search
for
obviously
relevant
data/information,
such
as
the
family
name
in
its
current
spelling
or
its
appearance
in
an
already
known
region,
before
investigating
in
a
direction,
which
at
first
glance
one
would
consider
obviously
unlikely,
for
example
the
spelling
of
the
family
name
almost
out
of
all
recognition
or
its
appearance
in another country or even continent.
