With the festive season fast approaching (including the upcoming US Thanksgiving holiday on November 25th) now is the time to start thinking about how to get the most out of your family events for your family history research.
Whether you want to fill out your family tree, start involving new generations or add extra dimensions to your existing research, below are 3 simple suggestions for turning your family day into a great family history tool
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1. Ask people to bring an old family object
We recently retweeted a great story in the New York Times about “The Tale of Things”. The article explains how documenting stories about family objects can be an amazing tool for understanding your own family history.
In the spirit of that, why not organise to have family members bring an old family object with them to show off to the rest of the family? Think of it as show and tell for adults. With that object will come interesting stories that may give you new and interesting information about your family.
2. Nominate an official recorder
Family information is often shared at family events but it all gets forgotten simply because it wasn’t recorded. Nominate someone to be the official recorder of information for the day and give them a video camera, a voice recorder, a camera or whatever and the mandate to record stories and memories from the day.
3. Make it a game and get the kids involved
Children are not only the next generation of your family; they’re also the next generation of family historians. Get the kids involved early by preparing a game for them at your family event. Set them all up with MyHeritage accounts (it’s free) and see who can create the best family tree based on the information they already know and can gather on the day. If there are lots of children, form them into teams. Who knows, beyond the lure of a prize, you may spark an interest in one of the children that will get them interested in being a future family historian
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There are our 3 suggestions.
Do you have any tips for how to get the most out of your family events?
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