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All Blog Posts Tagged 'history' (94)

A Lesson in Writing a Narrative Family History

If you are ready to start writing your family history book but not sure how to turn your research into an interesting life story then I have some tips to get you started. How do you write a descriptive, creative, narrative story about your relatives when all you have is a list of dry facts and documents to draw on? How do you turn your facts into a story about an individual you never met?

Believe or not before you begin writing your family history, I am going to suggest more… Continue

Added by Lynn Palermo on December 16, 2009 at 8:54am — 2 Comments

How to Determine the Size and Scope of Your Family History Book

Last week I posted about getting your genealogy research organized so that you can get ready to start writing your family history book. By organizing your information, you should now have a better knowledge of what you have in your arsenal to create your book.

The size of your family history book can vary. It may be a small booklet of a dozen photocopied pages but together in project folder to a large 200-page full colour coffee table style book. Only you can decide which challenge you are… Continue

Added by Lynn Palermo on December 9, 2009 at 6:25pm — No Comments

The Value of Visual Storytelling Through Video Biographies

Last week the American Chronicle published a beautiful article about what it is we do here at Legacy Multimedia.

While it’s always great to get PR, I particularly like this article because I felt that writer Pam Vetter asked the right questions and framed all the responses into a context that really gets to the essence of what it is that we do.

Because the process of creating a video… Continue

Added by Stefani Twyford on December 8, 2009 at 12:37pm — No Comments

Defining Today's Family

This week, I read an article in the latest issue of NGS Magazine entitled What is a Family? by Harold E. Hinds Jr. The subject of this article was based on his Grandmother’s two bibles. These two bibles outlined two very different concepts of his family. Like many families, there were sometimes aspects of our ancestor’s lives that were considered in appropriate and so some of our relatives took it upon themselves to rewrite their families’ history.

Today, we have a different… Continue

Added by Lynn Palermo on December 7, 2009 at 5:41pm — 3 Comments

Still Finding California Gold

While a lot of genealogical research can feel like you’re just slowly sifting your way through a soggy mountain of old data to occasionally discover a few tiny grains of precious family history, once in awhile your heart leaps with the thrill of finding those golden nuggets which add to the genuinely rich heritage that is the family saga.

As a direct descendant of some of California’s earliest European explorers and settlers, I am also related to most of the other early Spanish… Continue

Added by William S Dean on December 1, 2009 at 1:15am — 3 Comments

Days With My Father by Philip Toledano

My son recently sent me a link to a beautiful website called “Days With My Father.” It is a beautiful and sentimental photo gallery done by a professional photographer with his writings about dealing with the final stages of his father’s Alzheimers Disease.

As someone whose work it is to preserve memories, I found this a beautiful and touching memorial. I sent it out to several of my friends who sent me back emails thanking me for sharing the link and how much they really appreciated… Continue

Added by Stefani Twyford on November 30, 2009 at 11:39am — No Comments

The Ayes Ancestry

D' Alez, de Alseto, d' Alest, d' Ales, d'Alles, D' Allez.

En Langueduc des anciens comtes d' Alez et marquis d' Anduse. D' Apres le moine Thegan, historien du 10 siecle, cite par l auteur de l' histoire des regentes de France, les seigneurs de Anduse descendent des duc d' Aquitaine, issus de Bernard comte de Barcelonne, que Thegan dit etre de race royale en stirpe regali.

Saint Guillaume, duc d' Aquitaine, de septimarie et de Bourgogne, Premier Prince d' Orange, comte… Continue

Added by Ayesart on November 20, 2009 at 6:30am — No Comments

2009 Association of Personal Historians Conference in Valley Forge

If you follow me on any of the social media platforms such as Twitter (@stefanitwyford) or Facebook, you’ll know that I spent the previous week at the 2009 Association of Personal Historians Conference in Valley Forge Pennsylvania.

Having never been to the Philadelphia area, I was particularly excited to be spending time at Valley Forge, the historic site of the American Revolution and birthplace of everything we now take for granted as being intrinsically American. I was not… Continue

Added by Stefani Twyford on November 4, 2009 at 12:57pm — No Comments

Home videos donated to film project

From the www.miamiherald.com:

Isabel Ramos-Quinones' father shot home movies of family parties -- childhood memories that are now beginning to decay.

But she found out a way to preserve the old film, now tucked away in her closet.

An added bonus: She will be helping document history.

Miami Dade College's Lynn and Louis Wolfson II Florida Moving Image Archives compiles donated films for its collection. It… Continue

Added by Stefani Twyford on November 2, 2009 at 10:24am — No Comments

New Scottish History Website Goes Live

A wealth of information about Scotland's past is now freely available through an online resource developed for the use of pupils, teachers and those seeking to put their Scottish ancestors into an historical context.

Scotland's History Online covers a range of subjects, from prehistoric through to 21st Century Scotland. With more than 200 topics that include links to over 1,000 other online sources and a… Continue

Added by William Douglas on October 28, 2009 at 6:30am — No Comments

Ever heard of Creative Genealogy?

We all love genealogy,

this is why we are here. I too have done extensive research to find my ancestors and go as back in time as possible.

I love genealogy so much that I decided to make it fun for my now still little children so that they would love it too.

Then I realized that when you make genealogy something more visual than just a pedigree chart, you get interest from any kind of person.

If you would like an idea of what I mean… Continue

Added by Michelina Hall on September 30, 2009 at 8:00am — No Comments

A family historian reads American history: variation on a poem by Brecht

A FAMILY HISTORIAN READS AMERICAN HISTORY

Who sailed the seas to the colonies?

The books all hail the Mayflower.

Do others have ancestors venturing besides?

And many slaves, so many times maligned, who sold and bought them up each time?

In which of Boston's houses, that city bustling with churches, lived those who built it?

In evenings when General Washington crossed rivers

where did the rowers go?

City Washington is full of… Continue

Added by Unknown Ancestor on September 15, 2009 at 12:48pm — No Comments

October is Family History Month

In 2003 the United States Senate officially recognized October as National Family History Month, a time "to encourage family history research, education, and the sharing of knowledge."

President George W. Bush, in signing a Proclamation in support of Family History Month in 2003, said, "Lessons in family lineage are often lessons in courage, endurance, and love. While tracing our roots can be challenging, the rewards can be great - affirming our pride in our history and keeping us… Continue

Added by Stefani Twyford on September 11, 2009 at 2:10pm — No Comments

This has definitely been our year to brag

Two weeks ago we took yet another award, this one an ISES Crystal Icon Award for Best Videography. ISES is the International Society for Special Events and the Icon awards are recognized for top achievement within the special events industry.

It's such an honor to win all these awards and we really appreciate the opportunity to have our work judged by our peers. It's satisfying and gives us acknowledgment that indeed we are producing some great stuff over here. But truly, our biggest… Continue

Added by Stefani Twyford on September 11, 2009 at 2:10pm — No Comments

Family History Company ‘Teaches Old Dogs New Tricks’

Techniques and Technology Have Changed the Face of Family History

When you look inside your family, you look inside yourself. Family history research is a wonderful way to discover a past that can help you understand the present and plan for the future.

There are few hard and fast rules about family history research. Your research… Continue

Added by Holly T. Hansen on September 4, 2009 at 3:00pm — 1 Comment

One Hundred Years Ago

One hundred years is a long time and when you think about it the changes have been nothing short of amazing. I often hear people criticize the decisions and the actions of people in the past often by using the moral values of today. Yet our ancestors were the ones who built this country. I find that pursuing genealogical research is also a look into our own history. Perhaps also with a better understanding of how they thought.

London, Ontario, is situated roughly half way between… Continue

Added by William Bruce Hillman on August 29, 2009 at 6:11pm — No Comments

HollingsworthRobbinsFamilyTree

Go to www.hollingsworthrobbinsfamilytree.blogspot.com to see photographs and stories of the Hollingsworth, Robbins, Gray, Littlejohn, and more surname stories from our families' histories.

Added by Linda Sue Hollingsworth Robbins on August 26, 2009 at 9:02am — No Comments

In early July the Library of Congress put historic U.S. newspapers online

Library of Congress puts historic U.S. newspapers online to see how media covered history as it was made. I want to repost the link:

Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers

Added by Stefani Twyford on August 23, 2009 at 5:30pm — No Comments

History is the key to genealogy and genealogy is the key to history

My brother and I have both taught at the college level for years. After dealing with so many students, one fact is more than apparent to both of us; most students' knowledge of history is abysmally poor. History, as such, is no longer taught in many high schools or grade schools. Now, the children have classes in "social studies." Which is a euphemism for whatever popular social activist philosophy is current at the time.

Read…

Added by James Tanner on August 18, 2009 at 7:33am — 2 Comments

Archaeology and Family History

When I introduce myself as an archaeologist I generally find that people make assumptions about what that actually means. For a start I get asked about what I’ve been digging up lately and have to explain that not all archaeologists dig. I have (or should I say had?) a desk job. On top of that there is the problem of what period do archaeologists actually cover? We don’t cover dinosaurs, not in the slightest. Archaeology is all about the study of man and as yet no one has found any evidence to… Continue

Added by Sarah MacLean on August 15, 2009 at 7:17am — 6 Comments