2021 #AtoZChallenge Z is for ...Zap the Grandma Gap

  I've been researching my family history for over thirty years. Along this genealogy journey I have been supported by hundreds of books, many of which I have listed on my Librarything page. 

During the 2021 #AtoZChallenge I will be writing about two of my passions, books and family history. I'll be taking a trip down memory lane and revisiting some of those books that have enriched my genealogy experience.

I picked up Zap the Grandma Gap: Connect with Your Family by Connecting Them to Their Family History  from the author, Janet Hovorka at Rootstech in 2013.

This 190 page paperback contains many ideas for adults to enthuse younger family members about their family history and also advice for the oldies on how to preserve their family history and artifacts. Although it has much good advice I found the design and presentation too busy and the lack of an index a challenge. The cover image of the Grandma superhero just doesn't gel with me.

On this important topic I much prefer Janet Few's Harnessing the Facebook generation ideas for involving young people in family history and heritage, but, this Zappy book fulfilled my requirement for a Z title. 

We all need to think about what will happen to our precious research when we turn up our toes, these two books may just provide the bait that will hook a younger family member. 

2021 #AtoZChallenge Y is for ...Your ancestors in their social context

  I've been researching my family history for over thirty years. Along this genealogy journey I have been supported by hundreds of books, many of which I have listed on my Librarything page. 

During the 2021 #AtoZChallenge I will be writing about two of my passions, books and family history. I'll be taking a trip down memory lane and revisiting some of those books that have enriched my genealogy experience.

I must admit that I haven't picked up, Your ancestors in their social context : proceedings of the 13th Australasian Congress on Genealogy and Heraldry, Adelaide 2012, for around nine years.

This 590 page paperback contains the papers from the AFFHO Congress, the first I attended, in Adelaide in 2012. It is an example of a genre that today is often delivered as a .pdf download online or on a CD or USB drive. 

This particular publication is more useful than some similar works as it has a decent index. As many of the articles are well referenced it provides a good springboard to further reading on the topics covered. While some of the articles are dated, especially those referring to technology,  there are many that are still relevant to today's researchers. 

Highlighting this resource has reminded me that the collection of Conference Proceedings I have on my shelves or hard drive could  have answers to some of the questions for which I need answers. I must remember to refer to them occasionally!

2021 #AtoZChallenge X is for ... Xinran

I've been researching my family history for over thirty years. Along this genealogy journey I have been supported by hundreds of books, many of which I have listed on my Librarything page. 

During the 2021 #AtoZChallenge I will be writing about two of my passions, books and family history. I'll be taking a trip down memory lane and revisiting some of those books that have enriched my genealogy experience.

Xinran is a British-Chinese author and journalist who has been resident in the UK since 1997. I read her best-selling book, The Good Women of China, not long after it was published in 2002. 

My memory of the book is rather foggy but I remember that it made an impression on me. I turned to an entry in  Wikipedia to refresh my memory:

 "The Good Women of China is primarily composed of interviews Xinran conducted during her time as a radio broadcaster in China in the 1980s. However, she also details some of her own experiences as a woman in China. The interviews usually focus on the embedded cultural perceptions in China about women's rights, roles, and suffering. Many of these interviews were drawn from the call-in portion of Xinran' widely popular radio program, Words on the Night Breeze. She also interviewed other women, whom she sought out for their experiences as Chinese women or opinions about the status of Chinese women."

Although this work didn't impact on my personal geneajourney it gave me an insight into another culture and the plights and successes of women in that culture. When reading about family history it is important that we don't restrict our reading to our own culture, we need to broaden our horizons and enrich our understandings  by reading accounts of life in other cultures. 

2021 #AtoZChallenge W is for ...The White Star Line

 I've been researching my family history for over thirty years. Along this genealogy journey I have been supported by hundreds of books, many of which I have listed on my Librarything page. 

During the 2021 #AtoZChallenge I will be writing about two of my passions, books and family history. I'll be taking a trip down memory lane and revisiting some of those books that have enriched my genealogy experience.

I came across, The White Star Line : an illustrated history 1870-1934 by Paul Louden-Brown, on a visit to The Merseyside Maritime Museum in Liverpool England where, after looking at the excellent displays, I spent some time doing research in their Archives Centre.  

The Archives Centre at the Merseyside Maritime Museum

The book contained many images of postcards of ships of the White Star Line accompanied by detailed  explanatory text, in addition there were several colour illustrations. It wasn't hard to flip through the book to find illustrations relevant to ships on which Mr GeniAus' ancestors travelled to Australia. 

As well as consulting The White Star Line : an illustrated history 1870-1934  while at the Museum I was able to grab some photos of relevant immigrant ships and dip into a few other books.

One of the other books I perused at the Merseyside Museum

I am so grateful that Mr GeniAus is happy to join me in visits to local archives and libraries when we travel around. Although he says he doesn't do family history I think he may be a closet genealogist.