Your Family, Your History - Online Access

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Friday December 31

12:00 AM  –  12:00 PM

Your Family, Your History with Genealogist Linda Harms Okazaki and the Center: Online Workshop Series on Researching, Preserving and Sharing Your Japanese American Roots

Generously Supported by The Henri and Tomoye Takahashi Charitable Foundation

Lifetime Online Access to Recorded Webinar Sessions
$15 Center Members / $25 General Public

Have you wanted to start researching your family history but didn’t know how to begin? Do you want to write up your family story but needed some assistance? The Center's Your Family, Your History genealogy course is the perfect way to introduce you to genealogy and get you started over the course of 8 previously recorded webinar lessons! Please join genealogist, Linda Harms Okazaki, as she takes you on a genealogy journey. She will guide you through the research, and help you to write your story.

Our webinar series was originally held and recorded bi-weekly from May 13, 2020 to August 5, 2020, with a full registration capacity of 30 participants for the course. We will offer the course again in the future for new participants to provide opportunities for in-class discussion and genealogist guidance. In addition to the presentation by Linda, each session includes a homework assignment and culminates with sharing your final written project.

Can't wait for our next live class sessions? Purchase online access to previously recorded sessions! Lifetime access to view the password-protected webinar sessions on our Genealogy/Family History programs page on our website is $15 for Center members, $25 for the general public. 


Course Session Descriptions:

1. Introduction to Family History (90 minutes)

This initial session covers getting started in genealogy, organization, pedigree charts and family group sheets, interviewing relatives, navigating websites, planning a writing project, and will end with an opportunity to “ask the genealogist.” Homework assignments will be described during the session.

2. Finding U.S. Records (90 minutes)
Basic records, including census, land, naturalization, vital, plus newspapers, city directories, manuscript collections will be covered. Camp records to be covered in next session.

3. Camp Records (60 minutes)
Learn how to order camp records from the National Archives. Assembly Centers, WRA camps, and DoJ camps will be covered. 

4. Japanese Family Names and Crests (Kamon) with Chester Hashizume
Learn about traditional Japanese family crests and designs

5. Records in Japan (60 minutes)
Learn about conducting research on your family's ancestral records when travelling to Japan, including how to obtain your koseki, kakocho, okaka and more.

6. Writing workshop (60 minutes)
Overcoming writer’s block, brick walls, and other challenges.

7. Writing workshop (60 minutes)
Proof reading, how to layout and print your project/book. 

8. Present Your Findings (90 minutes)
Watch webinar participants share with the class their findings and their family history writing projects


About Linda Harms Okazaki:

Linda Harms Okazaki is a fourth-generation Californian, active in the genealogy and Japanese American communities in California and beyond. She is passionate about teaching Nikkei to research, document, and share their personal family histories. Her other areas of research include upstate New York, England, Australia, and the use of DNA in genealogy. Linda has been researching her husband’s ancestry since 2012, documenting his family in the internment camps and in Japan. A charter member of the Nikkei Genealogical Society, and a consultant for Ancestry.com’s Progenealogists, she is also a featured columnist for the Nichi Bei Weekly. Her column, Finding Your Nikkei Roots, is published bimonthly. Her guide to Finding Your Japanese Roots was updated in 2020 and is available in hard copy. Ms. Okazaki is the author of numerous articles, including the recent National Genealogical Society magazine article “Paper Sons and Picture Brides,” which was co-authored by Grant Din. She is a member of as the Association of Professional Genealogists, the Genealogical Speaker’s Guild, and the Daughters of the American Revolution. Linda currently serves as the past president of the California Genealogical Society, as a board member of the Nichi Bei Foundation, and a family history consultant for Densho.

Ms. Okazaki holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Human Development and a Master of Arts degree in Education. She can be reached at LindasOrchard@gmail.com.

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