Don't Let the Global Village Prevent You from Sharing Your
Family History with Future Generations
There was once a time when grandparents sat amidst a group of
wide-eyed grandchildren telling stories of days gone by. As the
global village shrinks and families spread out across the nation
and the world, the tradition of sharing family stories orally is
in decline.
Oral tradition - passing stories by word of mouth - has been the
primary means of sharing family histories until the very recent
past. As families spread out across the globe, it is far less
likely that multigenerational families will spend extended time
together; however, just because the method of communication is
changing, does not mean that the global village will be the
death of family history.
Despite the fact that extended families are more separated than
ever, modern technology narrows the communication gap caused by
distance. As such, families do not have to be distant even
though they live far apart.
The same holds true for sharing family histories. While family
histories may not be shared at the dinner table as they once
were, it does not mean that they can't be shared. The same
modern technology that allows families to stay close also allows
them to communicate family histories from one generation to the
next. The only difference is the absence of the dinner table and
the means of communication.
Since the written word is a much more permanent - and accurate -
method of preserving family history than dinner table
conversation, it is actually recommended that all families make
an effort to preserve their family histories in written form.
In some cases, the stories will only hold significance for the
family itself; however, in many cases, one family's history may
be representative of an entire town or era. Just as historians
and students today study Revolutionary or Civil War era letters
to learn about what life was like for regular people, one day,
people will turn to our electronic transmissions to learn what
life was like in the early 21st Century.
Those people who do not feel confident enough to write their
family histories themselves should seek out professional writers
to ghost write for them. The most important thing is to get the
stories in written form to preserve them for later generations,
but some families may even choose to go a step further and
self-publish their family histories in a nicely bound book.
There are many self-publishing services that copy and bind
books. Because of new print on demand technology, people can
order 10 copies or 1,000 copies. Some of these services even
sell the books online, making it easy for family members and
members of the community to obtain copies.
No matter how you choose to proceed, preserve your family's
history in written form before the stories are lost to coming
generations.
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