Family and Local History MLitt

School of Humanities

Planning a career as a genealogist or researching your family tree? Learn how to locate, read, and use available sources and archives to carry out your research

Start date

May 2020

Duration

60 months max

Study mode

Distance Learning

Location

Dundee City Campus / Online

Discover more about sources and archives that could assist your research, and find out about historical context and your ancestors. Gain the skills to put together your family tree or do sustained research into a local area. As part of this course, you will research and write a dissertation on a topic of your own interest.

Our emphasis is very much on the records themselves. You’ll develop a thorough understanding of record types, the reason for their creation, their location, and the information they contain. By gaining this knowledge, you will have an awareness of the historical context in which records were created and used and develop an expertise in finding, analysing, and interpreting records for family and local history research.

Topics offered include:

house history
military archives
paleography
skills and sources for family and local history

You’ll receive a lot of online content right from the start and benefit from our flexible teaching model that allows students to take semesters off and learn from subject experts.

“I enrolled with Dundee as a mature student having no previous degree. My work and genealogical experience were considered suitable for entry. Distance learning can be challenging, students can feel isolated, but there is plenty of support from the tutors, staff, on the discussion boards, and virtual friendships which develop with fellow students. I was challenged and stretched by the modules. I learned new skills, paleography being a completely new area for me.”

Sylvia Valentine, MLitt Family and Local History

Questions? Need help?

Contact our Archive and Information Studies enquiry team

+44 (0)1382 385543

cais@dundee.ac.uk