by Lisa Cooke | Sep 21, 2015 | 01 What's New, Beginner, History, images, Listeners & Readers, Writing Family History
Do you wish you knew more about your ancestor’s everyday life experience? Use social history for genealogy: to fill in the gaps between documented events.
Recently we heard from Barbara Starmans, a social historian, genealogist and longtime listener of three of Lisa’s podcasts. She wrote to share a new blog she started.
“While I’ve maintained my Out of My Tree Genealogy blog for many years, I’ve just launched The Social Historian, a longform story website featuring social history themed articles from across the centuries and around the world.”
Social history is about “the lives of ordinary people,” explains Barbara. “It is a view of history from the bottom up, rather than from the top down…. [It’s about] understanding…how people lived, worked and played in their daily lives. It is often the minutia of someone’s life that tells the story of who they were and what they believed in.”
“By exploring social history, you will be able to research all the circumstances of your ancestors’ lives and to build their life stories from the details you find.” Barbara send us a great list that we adapted and boiled down to a few core topics:
- Life cycle: Birth and birthing customs, health and lifestyle practices, medicine, diseases and epidemics, mental health, mortality rates, death and burial customs.
- Life at home: Clothing and fashion, food and cooking, housekeeping, land and property, alcohol and drug use.
- Life at work: Economy (prices, cost of living and salaries), occupations, working conditions and the labor movement, businesses and employers, social welfare and relief.
- Relationships: Morality, marriage and divorce, children and childhood, ethnicity and prejudices,
- Community life: Celebrations and holidays, traditions, education, language and literacy, religion/church, faith, crime and punishment, societal unrest, leisure pursuits.
- Game changers: War, emigration, inventions, transportation, communication, slavery and emancipation.
Barbara’s social history blog gives lots of great examples of her belief that “beyond just names and dates, those who came before us have a story to tell….By learning about their time and place and how they lived in it, you can add to your understanding of who they were.”
Resources
The Genealogist’s Google Toolbox by Lisa Louise Cooke is packed with strategies for learning about your ancestors’ lives online. There’s an entire chapter on using Google Scholar for genealogy!
Where can you look for social history online? I’d start with these sites:
1. Make sure you’re using all of Google’s fantastic resources, including Google Books and Google Scholar
2. Click to find Social history resources at the Library of Congress
3. American Social History Project at the City University of New York
Have fun! I think learning about the everyday lives of our ancestors is one of the most fascinating parts of family history.
Thanks for sharing this post with others who will enjoy it!
by Lisa Cooke | Dec 9, 2013 | 01 What's New, Apps, Conferences, Mobile
Originally designed specifically for the iPad in 2010, the free Flipboard app has moved onto all the major mobile platforms. And this cool new technology has just gotten better with a big dose of genealogy!
I invite you to explore the newly released free Flipboard magazine RootsTech 2014: Where Genealogy and Technology Converge.
Genealogy Gems has published the magazine in conjunction with the RootsTech program team in a continuing effort to help family historians embrace new technologies and present RootsTech attendees with the possibilities.
Consider what’s been happening in the mobile space this last year:
- Smartphone usage in the U.S. increased by 50 percent (Kleiner Perkins)
- The number of emails being opened on mobile increased by 330 percent (Litmus)
- Tablet usage doubled in the U.S. (Pew Research Center)
The bottom line: More than ever folks are accessing websites, videos, podcasts, blogs and other online information on their mobile devices. That’s where the free Flipboard app comes in.
The free Flipboard app is a social-network and online aggregator of web content and RSS channels for Android, Blackberry 10, iOS, Windows 8, and Windows Phone 8. Content is presented in a captivating magazine format allowing users to “flip” through it with a simple swipe of the finger.
As a genealogy new media content creator and publisher, we’re excited to introduce a creative use of this emerging technology to the genealogy industry. RootsTech 2014: Where Genealogy and Technology Converge is a free magazine available at http://tinyurl.com/RootsTech2014. The magazine pulls together great web content from RootsTech speakers, exhibitors, and official bloggers in one beautiful and convenient place.
This magazine has presented an opportunity to crowd-source the know-how and talent of all of those who work to make RootsTech a success. The magazine offers an exciting look at the RootsTech experience the innovative technologies emerging in the genealogy industry, and a new vehicle for everyone in the RootsTech community to converge! The pages go beyond text and images by also delivering video and audio!
How to Access the Magazine in Flipboard:
- Get the free Flipboard app at flipboard.com, in iTunes or Google Play.
- Set up for your free account
- In the search box at the top of the homepage, search for ROOTSTECH
- Tap “RootsTech 2014” by Lisa Louise Cooke (you’ll see a magazine icon next to it.)
- When the magazine loads, tap the SUBSCRIBE icon at the top of the page
- Starting at the right hand side of the page, swipe your finger from right to left over each page to “flip!”
Looking for more great genealogy themed Flipboard magazines? Check out two more new issues from Lisa Louise Cooke:
Stay tuned to the Genealogy Gems Blog and Podcast for Lisa’s upcoming exclusive interview with the folks at Flipboard!
by Sunny | Sep 14, 2018 | 01 What's New, Records & databases
Five new Scotland genealogy record collections are online at Findmypast. Also: Irish police registers; records from Wiltshire and Westmorland, England; and digitized British and Irish newspapers. Enjoy exploring your British Isles ancestry! Featured collection:...
by Lisa Cooke | Feb 15, 2013 | 01 What's New, Conferences, Who Do You Think You Are?
I’m busy packing my bags getting ready to make the trip from California to London for my third appearance at Who Do You Think You Are? Live in London.
Here I am in last year’s experts panel
I’ll be teaching some of my favorite classes (sorry, they are already sold out, but I look forward to seeing those of you who have tickets there):
- Friday 3/22 at 2:30 pm Ultimate Google Search Strategies
- Saturday 3/23 at 11:00 Turn Your iPad (and Tablet Too!) into a Family History Powerhouse
If you don’t get a chance to attend my classes don’t fret, because I have a free ebook for you called 5 Fabulous Google Search Strategies for the Family Historian that will jump-start your research. It’s available for free when you sign up for my free Genealogy Gems e-Newsletter.
One of the best parts about the event for me is meeting all of you! And this year that will be easier than ever. When I’m not teaching you can find me at the Family ChartMasters booth (#12)
There’s so much to look forward to at this years event. Whether you’re new to tracing your family tree or a seasoned researcher, it’s packed with genealogy experts, informative workshops, over 160 specialist exhibitors and celebrities from the UK television series to help you with your own family history search. Is it any wonder that Who To You Think You Are? Live made it on my 50 Family History Favorites list (which includes my top 5 conference picks!) Here the list in the brand new free Genealogy Gems Podcast Episode 151.
It is often said that “bigger is better” here in America, but in the case of family history conferences, the British have won the “super-sized” title. As an American genealogist, when I walk into the immense Olympia convention centre, I feel like a kid in a candy shop. Contained within those walls is more energy, more color (LOVE the hot pink carpeting!), more vendors and more genealogists than just about anywhere else. You certainly don’t have to have British roots to benefit from attending. This is my third year and I look forward to it as much as the first time.
So many of the Genealogy Gems Podcast’s 1 million downloads have been from the UK that it’s like “old home week” for me. Hope to see you there!
Thanks for sharing this post with others who will enjoy it!