The Genealogy & Family History Social Network
Blogs as Family Time Capsules
A genealogy blog, like the Census, is a time capsule, waiting to be discovered by future generations. The Census can be opened 72 years later, allowing genealogists and researchers to look back and see ancestors were living or working at a certain time and place, see who was living and near with those people, learn about their educational situation, the language they spoke, and so on.
So, too, is a genealogy blog, as I write in my most recent blog entry. Do you want descendants and distant relatives to be able to find your blog and open it, like a time capsule, years or decades from now? I'd be interested in hearing your thoughts on this. Thanks for reading.
So, too, is a genealogy blog, as I write in my most recent blog entry. Do you want descendants and distant relatives to be able to find your blog and open it, like a time capsule, years or decades from now? I'd be interested in hearing your thoughts on this. Thanks for reading.
Views: 42
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Sean K on
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It's highly unlikely anyone's blogs will survive 27 years, let alone 72. The internet is highly fickle, websites and web technology change rapidly. The Censuses, meanwhile, are official government documents, carefully preserved in many different forms for posterity.
Anyone with a 'Geocities' website (lots of genealogists had one, or relied on the information in them) will know what a calmaity it is when a web service is closed down and all the information lost!
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Permalink Reply by M Wood on
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I couldn't agree more, and the Geocities situation shows that you're entirely correct about not relying on websites for info. My hope (just a hope) is that because Blogger is owned by Google and I'm on Blogger, maybe Google will keep those blogs going for years and years--which means my relatives who haven't thought to look for me yet will find my blog in 2018 or so and get in touch. Blogging makes this a more personal search and contact opportunity. Meanwhile, the Census is official and well preserved but not as easily accessible as a blog entry being found via Google...
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Permalink Reply by Katie Heitert Wilkinson on
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M --- I absolutely agree with you. Admittedly, blogging is a way for me to get down what I'm thinking on a given day ---- just like the written journal I keep. Not many years ago I wouldn't have given a thought to future generations. Now I think about them all the time and hope that someone will find my musings as interesting as I have found letters and documents left by my family members.
Katie
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Katie,
Thanks for sharing your thoughts. Future generations are always on my mind too, with the hope that the genealogy info won't be lost and have to be rediscovered. Speaking of letters, I'd like to scan and save (and transcribe) letters sent to my mother during WWII, possibly posting those on a private site for relatives to see. It would be a pity if relatives decades from now aren't able to read these letters and know what was going on during a very emotional period in the family and the world. But I'd want to be sure the letters survive (and the blog etc) for family members to see years and years from today! Thanks again,
Marian
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Permalink Reply by Nancy Hurley on
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Hi Marian: I just came across your discussion while looking through all the topics on GW. I'm one of those whose been lurking a while and soaking up what this site means and what it might be for me. But this subject relates to thoughts I've had about how to preserve the research we do, making it possibly assist those unborn or unknown to us now. I am considering what kind of a personal blog will best fit that bill. I've done a lot of research and enjoy writing family stories, so it may be just stories. But I think that your comments about helping the family letters survive is important. We can donate transcriptions and written stories to our local libraries. But if we also use the internet to spread the research, wouldn't that just add to the impact? There surely is the risk of the blog or website eventually going down but it could also last a very long time. Maybe we could will our blog or website to a local genealogical society. Any thoughts???
Thanks for making me think a little more about it. (Hope my reply is in the right format. Should I have started another "discussion?")
Nancy
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Hi Nancy,
So glad you added your thoughts to the discussion--your idea of "willing" our blog or website to a local genealogy society is quite interesting and I'm going to ask my local club about it at the next meeting. Certainly there might be limitations (how many societies or clubs have enough tech-savvy people to take over four or ten or more blogs?) but it's something to consider. Or perhaps Genealogy Wise might have a subgroup of people willing to keep genealogy blogs from "disappearing"?
Maybe we don't have answers but we've sure got questions! Thanks again for your reply. Best,
Marian
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Hi Marian: I'll sure be interested to hear any thoughts your local club may have on the idea of somehow archiving, storing or preserving members' blogs as a part of their library after the member dies or can't keep up the postings. Your right...if we don't ask the questions, we may not have any answers. Who knows where this discussion could lead. My husband and I are fulltime rvers so I am not currently attending my own local genealogy soc. meetings very often. So I appreciate you having that discussion. Thanks.
Nancy
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