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Family
History Tips 5
12
Suggestions:
1.
Family History is much more than genealogy. Genealogy is the bones,
and history is the flesh and blood.
2.
Family History is people--what they looked like, how they acted,
their personalities, tall or short, pretty or plain, left-handed,
quiet or yakkers, talented, etc.
3.
Family History is characters--the short tempered Scottish grandma,
the crafty businessman, the hunter who never got a deer, the aunt who
played practical jokes, the loner who moved away from the family, the
accident-prone grandfather.
4.
Family History is not just adults. It is children, teenagers,
newlyweds, young adults, middle-aged adults, older adults--both male
and female.
5.
Family History is stories--how grandma learned to drive, the beach
trip when everyone got 2nd degree burns, the teacher who tied dad's
left hand behind him to cure him of lefthandedness, great-grandma's
cures for warts, the difficult birth of a child, the most memorable Christmas.
6.
Family History is places--towns and streets and hills and streams
and fences and stairs and closets and kitchens...
7.
Family History is time--describing change over time for people,
places, work, housing, customs of the family.
8.
Family History is problems and challenges--providing food and
clothes and housing and education, living with unpleasant neighbors
or associates, making decisions, health matters, etc.
9.
Family History is truthful--drawing on reliable sources, tactfully
telling about divorces, financial setbacks, feuds, disliked relatives.
10.
Family History is feelings--sorrow, disappointment, anger, love,
hopes, surprise, worry, joy.
11.
Family History is humor--funny happenings, favorite tall tales,
practical jokes, stories "told" on each other.
12.
Family History is history--the family in the Great Depression, flu
epidemic of 1918-19, World War I and II, family participation in
Church events, family in the community, for example; how
shopping was done, holidays celebrated, coming of roads, water,
electricity, radio, TV, airplanes, schooling, medical services,
coming of oil, earthquakes or floods, development of farming, of
business in the area, and how the family member's careers have
affected the community, etc.
Additional Helps:
1. Preserving Your Past by
Janice Dixon and Dora Flack
2. Your Family History: A
Handbook for Research and Writing by David Kyvig and Myron Marty
3. Your Family History by
Alan Lichtman
4. An Oral History Primer
by Shumway and Hartley
5. World Conference on Records,
1980 Proceedings (dozens of articles)
(Special
thanks to Bill Hartley; BYU, Provo, Utah)
Disclaimer: Not
responsible for advice, ideas, suggestions and/or
programs. By
mentioning these programs or any other program, I’m in no way
endorsing these or any other programs for you and/or your project.
Any advice, ideas or suggestions and/or programs mentioned are
considered my opinion only and am considered not liable. Not
responsible for sales or lack of sales of your project.
Brian@SunriseBooks.com
SunrisePublishing@gmail.com |
