Start with basic discovery, then upgrade when you need saved searches, Search result details, documents, registered classes, group creation, or room/class controls.
Free registered account for basic Search results and group conversation participation. Free users can comment in groups they can access, but they cannot save searches, open Search result detail/document pages, access classes, or access rooms.
Member account for active research. Researchers can save searches, open Search result detail/document pages, comment in groups, and access University classes and class rooms they are registered for. Researchers cannot create groups or host/control rooms.
Instructor account for creating groups, teaching classes, and controlling class rooms. Instructors can create groups in the family/news/social network layer and create up to 3 Rooms with invite, participant, layout, webinar, and pricing setup controls.
For descendants of slavery in the United States, the search often begins with fragments: a name remembered by elders, a county, a plantation area, a church, a land patent, a court file, or a rumor that family land still exists somewhere in the records. indigenous-search is being built to help families gather those fragments, compare them against public records and source guides, save what matters, and organize the evidence before taking the next step.
The first pass is meant to answer practical questions quickly: which record families are most likely to help, which sources are public versus member-only, which leads are strong enough to save, and which clues need to move into a case, a family review conversation, or a room with other relatives before anyone spends more time or money.
The search system is more than a list of links. It is a research workspace where families can find records, save leads, discuss them privately, build timelines, preserve documents, and prepare organized next steps for land, inheritance, tribal, archive, court, agency, or property-claim workflows.
Search now checks enabled connected resources by default. Visitors can inspect useful result cards first, free accounts can open the basic result details page and source links, and paid Researcher or Instructor access controls the deeper workflow and richer review panels.
| Run a broad search | The default search can check public APIs, source databases, guide cards, land-record leads, partner references, and internal research-group leads where enabled. |
| Review the preview | Anonymous visitors can review real result cards, source counts, result totals, and searched-resource stats before deciding whether to create an account. |
| Create a free account | A free account can open the basic result details page and original source links, but it still does not unlock saved leads, saved searches, or the deeper paid research workflow. |
| Researcher / Instructor depth | Saved leads, saved searches, richer result-detail panels, case workflow, and family-share workflow start with Researcher. Instructor adds group creation and room/class controls. |
| Class and room workflow | Researchers access registered University classes and attached class rooms where enrolled. Instructors create groups, manage class spaces, create up to 3 rooms, and control invites, participants, and layouts. |
| Family workflow | Researcher expands Search into saved leads, research cases, family-sharing workflow, richer parsed record review, and registered class access. Instructor expands the system into groups, class spaces, room controls, and webinars. |
The system guides families from a starting clue to an organized research case. Search finds records and source leads; case tools collect names, places, family stories, documents, land clues, relationship proof, and next-action checklists so the family can prepare the right outside request, form, claim, inquiry, or professional handoff.
| Step | System support |
|---|---|
| 1. Start with what the family knows | Research cases capture names, counties, states, time periods, family stories, known land, former enslavers, churches, cemeteries, military units, and migration paths. |
| 2. Search connected sources | Search checks enabled resources and lets members narrow by land records, archives, newspapers, books, NARA, BLM GLO, public databases, source guides, and research-group context. |
| 3. Save useful evidence | Researcher and Instructor accounts can save searches, open result details, review source/document context, attach leads to cases, and organize evidence for later review. |
| 4. Build the proof packet | Case forms organize identity details, ancestor links, location history, source citations, uploaded documents, family affidavits, land descriptions, patent numbers, parcel clues, and agency or court notes. |
| 5. Prepare the outside submission | The case workspace turns the research into a practical next-action checklist for records requests, archive orders, land-entry files, probate or property inquiries, unclaimed property claims, tribal enrollment inquiries, and related agency workflows. |
| Form | Purpose |
|---|---|
| Family research intake | Collects starting names, places, dates, oral history, known documents, land clues, and research goals before a case begins. |
| Evidence review worksheet | Helps family members mark whether a record supports the claim, conflicts with it, needs more review, or belongs in the packet. |
| Land lead worksheet | Captures patent numbers, land offices, state/county, meridian, township, range, section, acreage, owner names, parcel clues, and source URLs. |
| Heirship and family-link worksheet | Builds the family chain from a researched ancestor to living descendants and keeps notes about missing proof or disputed links. |
| Submission packet builder | Generates a checklist and working packet for the correct outside destination once the case has enough evidence. |
The homepage search starts across enabled connected resources, then uses access levels to control what can be opened, saved, reviewed, and organized. When a person becomes a member, the same lead can move into saved searches, research cases, source libraries, family-link review, land worksheets, and deeper Advanced Search tools.
| Layer | What it searches | Where it leads |
|---|---|---|
| Default discovery | Names, places, counties, public group records, public APIs, source guide cards, land leads, and access-controlled previews. | Good for first-pass clues while preserving the option to move into preview pages, free basic details, or paid-depth workflow later. |
| Advanced filters | Scope, source, record type, subject, state, county, year range, patentee surname, land office, meridian, township, and range. | Helps members narrow the search before spending time on deeper record families. |
| Public record connectors | Library of Congress, Chronicling America, Internet Archive, BLM General Land Office leads, NARA Catalog references, and public source URLs. | Turns outside records into leads that can be saved, reviewed, cited, and attached to a case. |
| Specialized collections | Freedmen records, American Indian rolls, passenger lists, military records, land claims, maps, microfilm references, and other specialized datasets. | Lets us organize large record families before choosing whether to import, index, deep-link, or connect through an API. |
| Research workspace | Saved leads, case evidence, family-link notes, land leads, source-library items, and review comments from trusted Research Spaces. | Moves a record from "interesting result" into organized proof that a family can discuss and preserve. |
| Submission preparation | Research intake, evidence worksheets, heirship/family-link worksheets, land lead worksheets, and packet checklists. | Prepares the family for the right outside request, claim, inquiry, archive order, agency form, or legal/professional handoff. |
| Level | Search access | Research features |
|---|---|---|
| Visitor | Focused public discovery and simple result previews. | Can learn what exists and open preview-first result paths, but must register before using the basic detail flow and must upgrade before using saved workflow actions. |
| Free account | Basic Search results, basic result details, and original source links. | Can comment in accessible groups and open the basic detail flow, but cannot save searches or leads, create research cases, access classes, or access rooms. |
| Researcher | $14/month for saved searches, saved leads, richer Search result details, and registered University class access. | Best for active members who need to preserve research and review source/document context without creating groups or rooms. |
| Instructor | $49/month for Researcher access plus group creation and room/class controls. | Best for instructors who create groups, run classes/webinars, create up to 3 rooms, manage invites, and control layouts. |
