The Storyteller Project: Week 2
Why This Work Is Bigger Than Your Family
Week 2: Why This Work Is Bigger Than Your Family
Last week we talked about how your family history research became centered around the story, rather than just the names and dates on a tree. This week we expand our understanding of why this work matters so much. The stories in our family history are essential to social history. Knowing what happened within the family during major historical events alters our collective understanding of history. It brings the reality of the events in full focus, moving from generalizations to truths. Through these truths, we know our ancestors, we walk with them on their journeys, and we find ourselves within the context of social history.
Take a moment to read more about this and then join the conversation. Read more about it in:
Stewardship Matters: A Storyteller’s Guide to Preserving Family History
You can find options for accessing it below.
Suggested Reading: Part 2: It Matters — Chapters 7, 8, and 9
Chapter 7 names the structural truth that most family historians already feel: the official archive was never designed to hold the lives of ordinary people well. The gaps are not random. Chapter 8 makes the case that family history is social history, that the ground-level account of a specific household carries what the historical narrative cannot. Chapter 9 introduces the concept that ties it together: the counter-archive, the record being built right now, in living rooms and libraries, by researchers like you.
This issue is about the stakes. Your work is not separate from the historical record. It is a contribution to it.
Prompt:
Think about knowing your ancestors’ personal experiences within the context of a large historical force in your family’s past: a war, a migration, economic collapse, displacement, exclusion, a pandemic.
How did an event like that shape or shift the course of their lives? Not the history-book version. The household version. The letter, the decision, the belief a child formed. What do your family stories tell about that part of history, the social history, that the official record does not?
Add your answer to the Chat
Lean into the Chat
Why answering the prompt in the chat is an important part of this process. 🌟Engaging with others in the chat connects you with Coterie members walking the journey with you.
🌟Community helps maintain your momentum. We might be excited to start the process and draw energy from it, but sustaining that energy comes from being a part of something bigger than yourself. You find out quickly that you’re not the only one with challenges, or that you can serve the greater good by being there for someone who needs your help.
🌟Saying it to someone else helps to solidify your understanding.
Get the book:
Stewardship Matters: A Storyteller’s Guide to Preserving Family History.
Get: Ebook PDF (With Paid Subscription to GenStack Coterie).
Get Paperback: Paperback (Buy on Lulu)
Paid subscribers to Genealogy Matters or GenStack Coterie have access to the digital version.
Submit to Genealogy Matters Magazine:
Your family history writing, including articles previously published on Substack or your blog, is eligible for submission to Genealogy Matters Magazine. Review the submission guidelines and submit your piece.