It’s time to pause, recap and refocus. We are in the midst of gathering your family history, the stories and the media that will relate that history and those real life stories to future generations. Which would move you more, “Our family came from Ireland” or “Your grandfather’s grandfather came from Ireland in 1895. Here’s a picture of the very boat he came on which landed in Boston. Here’s a picture of the passenger list. It appears he came without any other family. He was 28 and single.” Now you want to know more! Why did he leave his country? When did he meet and marry my great-great-great grandmother? When did the family leave Boston? How did our family get to Chicago? We now want to go beyond facts to stories and get to know him better!
Pictures really are worth a thousand words. So much more can be gleaned from a picture. Look at the above picture again. Can you now picture yourself on that boat? What would it have been like? Even more can be gleaned from moving pictures! Watching – with or without sound – the interaction of family members can tell you much more about them than a name on a tree.
So we are gathering and digitizing as much as we can to compile a family history video and book to pass on to many generations to come. Why both? Think about how much technology has changed. Think about how the printed word has always been our back up. So in the interest of redundancy, we will make an engaging video but we will back it up with a digitized AND printed book. Both the video and the book will be catalogued with an International Standard Book Number (ISBN) and be available on the cloud. If you are American, it can also be housed digitally at the Library of Congress. We are the American history so each of our immigration or family history stories are part of what makes America what it is today. Other countries have national libraries too so no matter where you are from or where you live now, you can probably submit your family history to your national library if you so choose – if it’s digitized.
If there’s one thing I’ve learned while working on my own family history videos it’s that I wish my family had passed on more stories, taken more pictures and videos, drawn the family tree full of facts, dates, and places and passed it down somehow. Any one of those things would have made this easier and more comprehensive for my future great-great-great grandchildren.
So the goal this week is to put ourselves into our future family members’ shoes and recognize the significance of what we are working on. Your efforts today will be greatly appreciated tomorrow!
Pictures really are worth a thousand words. So much more can be gleaned from a picture. Look at the above picture again. Can you now picture yourself on that boat? What would it have been like? Even more can be gleaned from moving pictures! Watching – with or without sound – the interaction of family members can tell you much more about them than a name on a tree.
So we are gathering and digitizing as much as we can to compile a family history video and book to pass on to many generations to come. Why both? Think about how much technology has changed. Think about how the printed word has always been our back up. So in the interest of redundancy, we will make an engaging video but we will back it up with a digitized AND printed book. Both the video and the book will be catalogued with an International Standard Book Number (ISBN) and be available on the cloud. If you are American, it can also be housed digitally at the Library of Congress. We are the American history so each of our immigration or family history stories are part of what makes America what it is today. Other countries have national libraries too so no matter where you are from or where you live now, you can probably submit your family history to your national library if you so choose – if it’s digitized.
If there’s one thing I’ve learned while working on my own family history videos it’s that I wish my family had passed on more stories, taken more pictures and videos, drawn the family tree full of facts, dates, and places and passed it down somehow. Any one of those things would have made this easier and more comprehensive for my future great-great-great grandchildren.
So the goal this week is to put ourselves into our future family members’ shoes and recognize the significance of what we are working on. Your efforts today will be greatly appreciated tomorrow!
RSS Feed