We are living in a golden age for online genealogical research. Organizations such as FamilySearch.org, commercial genealogical database providers, government agencies, libraries and archives, genealogical and historical societies, and individuals are digitizing original documents and making them available online at an astounding rate. Historical newspapers also being identified, located, digitized, and indexed for online database access. Commercial and volunteer indexing projects are improving our ability to quickly locate and access these records.

While the volume of digitized resources grows exponentially each year, we need to remember that not everything is online. It is still imperative that we visit and use public and academic libraries, archives, government agencies, courthouses, administration offices of cemeteries, and the host of other repositories where original records just might be stored.