Storytellers

Everyone likes a good story. As an archaeologist and a museum educator, storytelling has been a really important part of what I do. At first glance, we may not think of history as being a story - somehow "stories" doesn't sound like it captures the rigor of what historians, anthropologists, archaeologists, art historians, archivists do - but at the end of the day, history is a way of processing, sharing, interpreting past events. What gets included, how it gets included, who is included, and who is telling the story all affect the ways we understand what has come before.

That's one reason I love genealogy. It is predicated on the idea that family stories are important, that individual people who may not be known to anyone outside of your family, or who may not even be known to your family, are important. The process of finding those documents that attest to their comings and goings, tragedies and joys - that is a way to explore history on the level of an individual. I think that's exciting.

I'll be using this blog to share tips and tricks, fun things I've found in the course of doing my own family history (and occasionally those of friends or clients who give me permission!), and, sometimes, when I'm feeling bit romantic, try to imagine the events behind the paper trail.