BRANCH OFFICE
Old School. New School.
by Mary Patricia Voell
T
here is an interesting theory in environmental circles called the Shifting Baseline Syndrome defined as “the situation in which over time, knowledge about the state of the natural world is lost. People don’t perceive changes that are actually taking place, like climate change, or the escalating loss of fish in the ocean. In other words, due to short human life-spans and faulty memories, humans have a poor conception of how much of the natural world has been degraded by our actions, because our ‘baseline’ shifts every generation. In essence, what we see as pristine nature would be seen by our ancestors, if they were alive, as hopelessly degraded. And what we see as degraded, our children will view as ‘natural.’ Family reunions can offer a window into a better understanding of this ever-changing world. A grandparent might say, “When I was growing up …” or “You kids have it so easy today.” The mental time machine takes us back to another time, then moves us forward to a present time — comparing what was normal then with what is normal now. How previous generations gathered their research — old school — and how we do it now — new school — can be similarly applied, yet a bit more simplistically. My mother and sister were old school research technicians. They visited court houses and libraries; talked to and wrote to relatives; and received letters to add to the family narrative. They poured over census records, city directories, and historical society publications searching for names and dates. Our family archival binders are filled with this work. I am honored to have received ‘their’ work as each generation adds another multi-faceted layer showing how life and culture evolves. The Old School, New School title is meant to frame the importance and value of your research and to appreciate and understand both approaches as more and more information is available to family historians. So many jump directly to online resources before they root themselves. Learn to get rooted using old school methods. So many stories are right there within your family circle or in your own backyard. 1 Interview first. Research later. Take the time now – before it’s too late! 2 Your own family records. Who has what records? 3 Libraries, museums, historical and genealogical societies — Has your family been tied to an area for several generations? Local history books are filled with founding family stories. 4 Books, magazines, gazettes — Has someone in the past written an article or book about your family? 5 City Directories – Where did they live when? Directories also list occupations and other tenants. 6 Newspapers — For decades, local newspapers reported births, marriages, deaths, family visits, weddings, small town game nights, events, and reports from servicemen. The list is endless. In those publications are names galore, giving you a
glimpse into the who, what, when, where, why and how they lived their daily lives.
7 Be a student of local, national and world history. Never stop learning. Gathering clan events, large or small, are the ultimate treasure trove of past and present family storytellers. Adding textured profiles to your growing storyline expands your genealogical charts from mere names and dates. Learning the richness of the genealogical landscape is the joy of the journey.
NEW SCHOOL Today’s researchers locate ancestral links through the easily accessible, always open, internet. Databases abound with vital records (birth, marriage, death), family trees and historical context to name a few. And because of that, many believe anything they want is ‘online.’ Truth be told, genealogists will tell you that actually only a small percentage of ancestral information available virtually. Yet, here are just a few ‘must-go sites’ to start or continue your search provided by J. D. Biersdorfer in a 2020 The New York Times article How to Dig Up Family History Online. And always remember to return to sites because they are being updated continually. The National Archives website provides genealogists links to information on finding land records, immigration and naturalization documents, census data, military-service papers, and more. Some ancestors are harder to trace than others. For families severed by slavery or overlooked by the government, the site has an Ethnic Heritage section with tips for finding African-American ancestors, as well as for those searching for Chinese, Hispanic/Latino, Japanese or Native American forebears. FamilySearch, run by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, requires only a free account to search its billions of historical records. www.Geni.com has free basic family-tree building services and a large social community that encourages members to work together. Immigration museums may also have free online databases, like the Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation Passenger Search. The Library of Congress Newspaper Archives, Indexes and Morgues section has links to many digitized publications, including African-American, Cherokee and MexicanAmerican newspapers. Newspapers.com is an archive with more than 17,000 digitized publications dating from the 1700s. The Ancestor Hunt genealogy site has a section devoted to finding historical newspapers online. And the Elephind site lets you search a growing collection of digitized international newspapers.
DNA DNA is certainly a new school approach to finding long lost links. Success stories abound. But ‘Buyer Beware.’ Before you make this leap, make sure you have your baseline intact.
SUMMARY No matter whether you research on foot or with your fingers, continued on page 6
2022 REUNION CELEBRATIONS! v REUNIONS 5
