U is for Unpublished Research

Welcome to the world of one-place studies! Twenty-six of our members are sharing something in their particular place for this year's A-Z Blogging Challenge. Today Suzie Morley of the Debenham one-place study has a reminder that your favourite one-place studier will likely have some treasures you may not know about - unless you ask!

What is "Unpublished Research"? Until the birth of the Internet, unpublished research might have consisted of a brown paper envelope full of someone's jottings about their Place, their Name or their Family. This envelope might be deposited at the Society of Genealogists, at a Family History Society or at a Record Office. It was, generally, obvious that it was unpublished. It was also fairly obvious that such "jottings" should be viewed with a certain amount of caution and should be thoroughly investigated and researched, before being incorporated into your own "jottings".

These days this unpublished work is more often to be found via a search engine or by entering your Place Name into a well-known genealogy supplier's web site. These days we are all publishers! Some of us have websites, some have blogs, or Facebook, or Twitter. Some go and talk to schools, some do presentations. Whilst most of us use perhaps one or two of these modes to reach out to other people – some people use all of them! Is there any such thing now as "Unpublished Research"? and how can we keep our own research "pure", whilst still engaging with others?

How have you solved these dilemmas? Let me have feedback in the comments on whether you think this could possibly be the topic of a future Hangout or a Destinations article.