Resources
Where to begin, and what to trust
Guidance drawn from Dr. Carter's own method, and the repositories her research actually depends on.
Starting points
Seven things worth knowing first
01
Start from what is known
Work outward from the people you can name and the dates you can place, one generation at a time. Every documented step makes the next one findable; a leap to a promising name three generations back usually has to be undone later.
02
Interview your elders now
Dr. Carter's own research began in 1985 with interviews of her grandmother and great-grandmother. Record the conversation. Ask about names, places, work, church, migration and the stories nobody wrote down — and ask again on a different day.
03
Treat family stories as leads, not conclusions
“Assume all stories are false because you were not there,” as she puts it, “and so it's your job to find the truth in that journey.” A family account points you at a record; the record settles it.
04
Go to original sources
Birth and death certificates, wills, probate files, census returns, draft registrations, military and church records, land records and deeds. An index or an online tree is a finding aid, not evidence.
05
Write down where everything came from
Cite the record, the repository and the reference as you go. Research you cannot retrace is research you will eventually have to repeat.
06
Look at the neighbors
The FAN approach — friends, associates and neighbors — is often what identifies a family when direct records are silent, and it is central to research on African American families before 1870.
07
Be ready for what you find
“You're going to find things that you didn't know,” she told WDET, “you're going to make discoveries that you didn't know, that are going to be emotional.” That is part of the work, not a sign you have gone wrong.
Research findings cannot be guaranteed. Historical records are often incomplete, damaged, restricted, missing or contradictory — particularly for families whose lines run through enslavement. What can be promised is careful work, honest reasoning, and a clear account of what the surviving evidence does and does not support.
Repositories
Collections worth knowing
FamilySearch — Family History Library(opens in a new tab)
Salt Lake City. Dr. Carter is a registered researcher there and archives her family history book with the library every five years — and, as she notes, it is a free resource.
U.S. National Archives(opens in a new tab)
Federal census, military, land and freedmen's records. A repository she researches in directly.
Library of Congress(opens in a new tab)
Manuscripts, newspapers and photographic collections in Washington, DC.
NPS Network to Freedom(opens in a new tab)
The National Park Service Underground Railroad program, through which Dr. Carter secured designations along the Detroit River.
Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History(opens in a new tab)
Detroit. She researched and digitized documents in the Museum's Blanche Coggan Collection.
Detroit Public Library — Burton Historical Collection(opens in a new tab)
The principal collection for Detroit and Michigan family and local history research.
Stuck on a particular question?
A consultation is often the quickest way past a wall — a working conversation about where you are and what to try next.