Gen Z didn't just discover genealogy — they redecorated it. From sepia-toned TikToks to carefully curated Pinterest boards full of vintage portraits and handwritten letters, younger researchers are turning family history into something that looks really, really good. But is the glow-up helping the hobby or hollowing it out?
Sep 14, 2026
For generations, Native American family histories were recorded, stored, and interpreted by outsiders. Now, tribes and Indigenous-led organizations across the US are building their own archives — and pushing back against the commercial genealogy industry's version of their past.
Sep 13, 2026
Genealogy has never been more popular — or more expensive. As subscription fees pile up across a growing list of platforms, the ability to thoroughly research your family history is increasingly tied to how much you can afford to spend each month. We break down what it actually costs, and where to turn if the price tag is out of reach.
Sep 12, 2026
Specialized genealogy groups organized around shared ethnicity, religion, or regional roots are doing vital work preserving stories that mainstream platforms overlook. But as these communities grow more influential, some researchers are asking a harder question: when a group controls its own narrative, who decides what gets left out?
Sep 12, 2026
A new wave of content creators is turning dusty census records and DNA results into viral moments — and millions of younger Americans are suddenly obsessed with their family trees. But as genealogy goes mainstream on TikTok and Instagram, some researchers are asking whether the spotlight helps or oversimplifies a deeply nuanced craft.
Sep 07, 2026
What started as a niche hobby has quietly spawned a booming industry of reunion planners, heritage tour operators, and DNA meetup coordinators all betting that people will pay good money to shake hands with their long-lost relatives. We went inside the business of turning genealogy enthusiasm into genuine human connection — and found something a lot more complicated, and a lot more moving, than we expected.
Jul 16, 2026
In small towns across America, a single person often holds the keys to generations of family history — and that kind of power comes with complicated strings attached. We look at the unsung heroes, the occasional hoarders, and the community tensions that simmer when one person becomes the unofficial archivist of everyone else's past.
Jul 16, 2026
A growing number of serious family researchers are quietly stepping back from public ancestry platforms and building their own closed, invitation-only DNA networks. We dig into why they're doing it — and what the rest of the genealogy community stands to lose if the trend keeps spreading.
Jul 16, 2026
Genealogy has quietly become one of the most expensive hobbies in America, and millennials are leading the charge. From DNA subscriptions to overseas heritage tours, younger Americans are pouring real money into finding out where they came from — and the reasons run a lot deeper than mere curiosity.
Jul 15, 2026
Forget the stereotype of genealogy as a retiree's hobby. A growing wave of twenty-somethings is logging off TikTok and logging into ancestry databases, driven by a hunger for identity, community, and something that feels genuinely real. Here's what's behind the shift — and why it matters for everyone who loves this field.
Jul 15, 2026
Somewhere in a farmhouse in rural Ohio, a retired schoolteacher has boxes of handwritten letters, church ledgers, and land deeds stretching back to the 1700s — and she's not sure she wants to share them. It's a scenario playing out across America, where private family historians sit at the crossroads of preservation and gatekeeping. What happens to collective history when it belongs to just one person?
Jul 15, 2026
Some of the most dedicated family historians in America have spent decades building extraordinary research — and then locked it away. We dig into why genealogy gatekeeping happens, what drives it, and what the rest of us lose when hard-won discoveries never leave a private folder.
Jul 14, 2026
For Black Americans, the search for family history runs into a wall that was deliberately constructed — one built from enslavement, legal segregation, and systemic record destruction. But researchers, community organizations, and new technology are chipping away at that wall, and the stories emerging on the other side are extraordinary. This is about those challenges, those breakthroughs, and the people making them happen.
Jul 11, 2026