Published August 13, 2023
| 1 Comment | Leave A ReplySome years ago the church to which I belonged went through a time of reflection, and the interim minister who led that effort often used as a catch phrase, “Speak Your Truth Without Blame or Judgment.”
As I contemplated the concluding keynote I was to present this weekend to “Pennsylvania’s Genealogy Event” or PaGE, the all-virtual event sponsored by the Genealogical Society of Pennsylvania, this phrase came back to mind.
The title of my talk, “Storytelling Tools for Pennsylvania’s Future Genealogists” was a nod to the hope that many genealogists moving forward do not just settle for a “skeleton tree” of mere names and dates and instead make every attempt to flesh out the rich detail often available about direct-line ancestors as well as other collateral relatives.
And what specifically put “speak your truth” back in my head was the reality that while sticking to the bare-bones facts might be considered the safer choice by genealogists, erring too much on the side of merely restating such facts, in my opinion, robs family history of much of what makes it worthwhile.
In putting together my keynote, I was also cognizant of Parul Sehgal’s New Yorker piece “The Tyranny of the Tale,” in which the author argues that the 21st century has perhaps leaned too heavily to toward everything in life having a narrative, and that some parts of life—maybe even many parts—are part of an “unstoried self” not connected to our larger beings.
That gets a bit too metaphysical for me: I’m going to maintain that while our personal life narratives may not be consistent or coherent, that they all are part of our stories—our truths—which may or may not be fully reflective of facts.
While I don’t endorse distortion of reality, I do think we have to give a simple nod to the “points of view” that are crucial parts of our truths.
We need to keep looking for tidbits, whether from records, documents, oral history or DNA hits, and make all those tools a part of your necessary toolbox as a genealogist!
There was much more to my keynote, but for all the great initiatives we hope to get to at Genealogical Society of Pennsylvania, you’ll have to register and watch the actual keynote … see how you can still register below!
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While the virtual live activities for PaGE are over, those who didn’t previously attend still can become part of the event by registering to see the recordings of presentations, Q&As, and other facets of PaGE through mid-November. Register through the GSP website at the URL genpa.org
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For Sale
The Best of "Roots & Branches", Fifth Edition published July 2017, edited by Terri J. Bridgwater.
It contains a selection of columns from Beidler’s award-winning newspaper column (currently published in the Altoona Mirror), which is the only syndicated newspaper column on genealogy in Pennsylvania.
The book can be ordered online, or purchased directly from Jim when he speaks at a conference.
Christine Gray
9 months ago
Jim,
It was a wonderful conference! It will take me until mid-November to watch over and over again to capture all the wonderful information, tips, tricks and resources shared by the speakers.