How to Help Others Enjoy Your Genealogical Discoveries
Brought to you in association with The Ellis Island Foundation.
Share your research! This is an important rule for Ancestor Detectors. Genealogy isn't only the past; it should enlighten people in the present and preserve both past and present for the future.
Let your relatives in on all the wonderful things you've learned. By doing this, you will spread joy and get back information to help you continue your research.
Here are a number of ways to share the wealth:
Family Show: Display Books
After you've done some research, you'll probably have a small collection of family documents, maps, and photos. One of the easiest ways to share your findings is to put them together in a family display book.
A loose-leaf notebook and some clear plastic display pages — sold in stationery and art-supply stores — will make a fine display book. Gather all your copies of documents: birth, marriage, and death certificates, immigration papers, passenger ship lists, etc. Also include maps of your family's hometown, showing the places where they've lived, old letters, and family photographs. Then arrange each set of papers by family. Put them in the display pages, beginning with the oldest documents and moving to the newest. In that way, you'll be able to leaf through the pages and see your family's history develop.
Keep adding documents as you find them, and show your book to relatives. It will be fun to share your discoveries — and it may even inspire other family members to help you with your research.
Drop Me a Line: Family Newsletters
A newsletter does not have to be fancy. All you need is a typewriter or a word processor and access to a photocopying machine. You can begin with a one-page typed sheet of information, as long as it is topped with a design, title, or name that indicates that this is the family paper, edited by you. Family newsletters typically come out one, two, or three times a year.
A newsletter is the perfect place for family news — births, weddings, and deaths, as well as graduations, christenings, confirmations, bar and bat mitzvahs, family relocations, and other special events. A copy of the family tree would interest readers, as would photocopies of pictures you've discovered, or old documents like a ship's manifest with an ancestor's name on it. You might include profiles of interesting family members, art work, summaries of research, and jokes.
The lifeline of any newsletter is the reaction of its readers. Encourage your subscribers to send you notes, announcements, stories, drawings, and photographs. With a little bit of help from friendly relatives, you may find yourself a big-time family publisher.
A Roster of Relatives: Master Lists
If you don't have time for a newsletter, consider mailing out a master list of names and addresses. As family historian, you become a connecting point for a lot of people who don't know each other. By sending out a list with names and current addresses — information you accumulate while doing your genealogy research — you may put people in touch with each other. You can also ask your readers to add any names and addresses you may be missing.
This is a small gesture, but it comes in very handy if you ever try to help organize a family reunion.
Gather Round: The Fun of Family Reunions
One of the liveliest ways to share and celebrate your common heritage is to attend a family reunion. What could be more entertaining, or exciting, or fun than a great gathering of all your relatives? Visits from family no one has seen in years. Sharing and laughing and eating and singing.
Reunions can be anything from a small gathering at your family's house to a giant party at a football stadium. Obviously, you don't have to have thousands of relatives in order to have a reunion. Small reunions can be as much fun as big ones. Here are some pointers to help you put together a reunion:
- Plan in advance. Even a small party requires a lot of notice. Pick the date and the place well in advance, aiming for convenience for other family members (summer weekends are often a good bet). Three to six months is best; that gives you time to recruit other family members to help. And whatever date you choose, remember that it is 100 percent impossible to pick a date that will satisfy everyone.
- Mail out a packet of information. The invitation should be creative, promising a special family gathering, and maybe including a list of the people you've invited. Ask people to tell you if they'd be interested in attending, and if they know of other family members who should attend. It's also a good idea to ask relatives if they have any photographs or other memorabilia that they could send ahead so you can prepare it for viewing by all the family.
Remember that it will cost money to run the reunion. You have to pay for mailings and phone calls, feed everybody, and maybe even hire a hall or provide entertainment. Discuss with your parents how you want to handle this. Many family reunions have some kind of price per person to cover food, drink, and other costs.
- Plan events for the party. Most reunion time is spent sitting and talking, but it's nice to have a few events planned. You could have a recitation of the family history, a few speeches from the family elders, or a fun event like a dance contest.
- Get everything in place as the event draws near. When the reunion is just a few weeks away, send out a one-page reminder, or call relatives who said they might come.
Be sure that all your materials are ready. Name tags are important; you could color-code them so everyone knows which side of the family everyone else is from. Mount documents like marriage licenses, high-school diplomas, and maps of the old neighborhood or town.
Old photographs are probably the most popular of all attractions. Mount them (use copies when possible) carefully, and identify as many people, dates, and places as you can. If you've got photos you can't identify, mount them and ask, "Who is this?" underneath.
You might even create a "wanted" poster of relatives you can't identify or those you've lost contact with. Leave room for people to write down information.
- Family trees are a must. Display a family tree with everyone's name on it — prominently post it and cover it in clear plastic. This allows people to study their branches and make corrections or additions.
Have an evaluation sheet at the reunion. This will allow everyone who attends to get in their two cents and tell you what worked and what didn't. It also can let you know who'd be willing to work with you on other family projects.
In spite of all the hard work, one family reunion usually inspires another. These events remind people of how much they have in common, and they usually want at least one more chance to share before they lose touch again. (And there are many cases in which families become closer, and stay closer, as a result of a reunion.)
"What tends to happen," says Roots author Alex Haley, "is that the first little group is chuckled at by other family members. 'Ha, imagine, a family reunion .' But when they hear about the good time had by the first group, they end up going to the second one. Something starts to take hold in these people, and once they gather again, they turn into something bigger than a family — they become a clan. A sense of soul, of us, starts to develop."
One way to keep the family in touch is to start a club or family association. The group may simply agree to get together on holidays, or to send cards out to each other. They may sponsor family research, or plan out the next family reunion.
