Change is in the air with Family Tree Magazine and Family Tree Books. As a long-time Family Tree author and instructor, I am delighted to know that both the magazine and book divisions of F+W Media have found new homes with publishers committed to history and heritage. Family Tree Magazine has been acquired by New Hampshire based Yankee Publishing Inc. (YPI), and Family Tree Books is now part of the Penguin Random House Publishing Group.
My years writing for Family Tree Magazine and publishing with Family Tree Books have been a journey back to my own journalism roots. I published my first magazine article for American Girl Magazine when I was in high school, and continued writing for newspapers and magazines through college and beyond. My career path veered into teaching for two decades and then back to writing on genealogy and family archiving.
When I inherited my grandmother’s personal papers and photos in 2000, I couldn’t find much information for family historians working with personal collections. Instead, most guides were aimed at institutional archivists using expensive, complicated archive management software to describe and catalog collections. I researched best practices and adapted techniques for a home archive that were doable and not overwhelming.
Here at The Family Curator Blog, you’ll find nearly 1,000 posts about family archiving and digitizing since 2007. It has been an honor to work with the editors at Family Tree Magazine and Family Tree Books for nearly a decade sharing ideas on organizing genealogy, scanning, software, researching with personal archives. I am delighted that the magazine will transition from F+W Media to the good hands of Yankee Publishing and continue to inform and educate American genealogists. And, I look forward to working with other genealogy authors for the Penguin Publishing Group.
Look for my continuing column “Family History Home” in your next issue of Family Tree Magazine. And, read more about family archiving in my books How to Archive Family Keepsakes and How to Archive Family Photos.
I look forward to sharing archival preservation techniques and research skills as we continue to learn from the keepsakes of our ancestors.
from Family Tree Magazine
“Our leaves are changing” writes Andrew Koch, Editor Family Tree Magazine, in a letter to magazine readers:
Like we here at Family Tree, Yankee Publishing is committed to honoring and celebrating history and heritage.
“Looking ahead to the magazine’s 20th anniversary, we’re all excited for the vision that YPI has for our brand. We’ll continue to publish Family Tree Magazine as we have for the past two decades. Our subscribers don’t need to take any action — you’ll continue to receive the magazine just as you h ave before.
As part of the transition to new ownership, we’ll be making significant improvements to our website and online store. Thank you in advance for your patience and understanding as we create a better experience for you.”
