Personal History & Archives Blog
History is written based on what is saved. What are YOU saving?
Family history supports resilience: Tell your youngsters about their families
Why I Do Family History: how it supports women’s history
As women, we mostly have been raised in cultures that valued modesty and humility, and discouraged pride and self-celebration. For women.
So most women shy away from feeling “worthy” of being included in history and placing the evidence of their lives in archives.
Goddess In The Family: uncovering women from generations past
I propose the goddess imagery that I’ve grown to love actually stands in for them, for all the amazing women in our lineage whose stories we do not know.
There’s history in those family photos!
Originally published by BORN TO RISE. Based on a family camping trip photo, a state endangered species committee tracked the shrinking presence of a local plant and moved it onto the endangered species list to protect it from extinction. Many family photos do have dramatic stories wrapped up in them. But the only way to capture, tell, and act on historic visual information is to save our photos…and preserve them.
Women’s Lived Experience Matters
What historical events, policies, and overall political changes have you lived through? What do you find yourself talking to young folks about? I was a Kelly Girl back in the early 80s. For a...
Before You Digitize: what to consider & what originals can tell us
Overwhelmed by photos from the past? Underwhelmed by lack of details about your family photos? Thinking of just tossing that box or family album of unknowns? Or farming them all out to be digitized...
War and family history: the long reach of PTSD
My grandfather helped win the war, became a US citizen, and had a large healthy family. But the granular details around these successes rather undo them.
Family and Women’s History for Kids: a shocking first date!
Family history gives kids a foothold in history. Kids see their role within a larger context, and learn the value of their actions and contributions. “Once upon a time there was a farm girl — the youngest of six kids. She was shy and thought she was ugly. She had some very glamorous older sisters and some very rowdy older brothers. They all lived in Aroostook County, Maine.
Louder than words: special needs kids & family history
A college bestie and I had babies the same year. We had always wanted to be groovy hippie mamas together! You probably already know that I am NOT the chill earth mother I had imagined. When my kid...
About Me
I spent 18 years as “archivist and senior research scholar” at an academic science library, actively trying to add women to the historical record and looking for the women who were already included almost accidentally. I have degrees in women’s history and cultural theory — the latter means that I see the cultural value of everyday practices such as food, clothing, hobbies, and domestic arrangements. Non-famous people matter.