NARA Mythbusters:  Your Family IS in the Archives “All the military records were burned in the fire.” “There isn't any birth, marriage or death information in federal records.” “There aren't any details about ordinary families at the National Archives.” These kinds of myth-statements stop genealogists from breaking down all kinds of brick walls using the wealth of information in the NARA records. Join the myth busters with the treasures the National Archives holds for your family. 

 Judy Russell is a genealogist with a law degree, and her purpose here at The Legal Genealogist is, in part, to help folks understand the often arcane and even impenetrable legal concepts and terminology that are so very important to those of us studying family history. Without understanding the context in which events took place and records were created, we miss so much of both the significance and the flavor of what happened. She has worked as a newspaper reporter, trade association writer, legal investigator, defense attorney, federal prosecutor, law editor, and, for more than 20 years before my retirement in 2014, I was an adjunct member of the faculty at Rutgers Law School. Judy has spent most of the last two decades learning her trade as a genealogist and holds credentials as a Certified Genealogist® and Certified Genealogical LecturerSM from the Board for Certification of Genealogists® where she is currently serving as a member of the Board of Trustees.