YouTube is a great place to find videos that can teach you how to do practically anything, particularly if you prefer visual learning. To get the best value from this, learn more about how to use YouTube by going to YouTube Help.
There are literally millions of videos online so how to keep track of the ones you find? Another useful page is how to create a YouTube playlist where you can store links to the videos you’re interested in and return again to view them. Here are two examples of the kind of videos are out there.
It’s useful to know how to read old documents, this is called palaeography. A video like this might be handy ‘to get your eye in’. Search for more on YouTube. However, the easiest way to learn how to read manuscripts is to read any old letters, notebooks, and so on that you may have in the family archive. When you go to an archive and look at manuscripts pre-1900, try to see the pattern and treat it like a puzzle taking into account the different spellings and letter formation. However, pre-1700 can be quite difficult at first but perseverance and interest will pay off.
Need help understanding family relationships? This video might help … but might leave you breathless with its speed!
orcid.org/0000-0002-2074-4846