I don't think that it is dying, but there appears to be a great change in who does it. I know that at 67, I am one of the youngest members that attend meeting at my research area based historical society when I happen to be in town (and I live 500 miles away, so can't volunteer to keep the doors open). I have just gotten highspeed internet service, so can now begin volunteering for various indexing projects in which I am interested over the web, but that's another story. I think that many people doing research now do it mostly online, and if Ancestry or Footnotes, etc. don't have what they are looking for, they assume that it doesn't exist. Also, a great many people are, like me, doing research in areas where they don't live so, even if they were interested in volunteering, aren't physically there to do so. And I suspect that most, also like me, aren't interested in volunteering where they live because it's not where they are from and their interest lies. As for keeping Rootsweb going, I would be happy to do something, but am not in any way computer savvy enough to know how to help maintain a website, etc. If I had the knowledge, it would be different, as I love & use Rootsweb a lot.

I suspect a lot of the problem is that younger people are extremely busy, and older ones lack a lot of technical skills that would make us more useful--on the other hand, a lot of people my age can still read handwriting, which appears to be a dying skill.

We do need to somehow make people aware that they need to register changes in their email addresses if they have queries out there--I believe that if you are a member of Rootsweb, they automatically route answers from an old email address to a new one, but of course, you have to be registered.

But genealogy isn't dead at my house: I spend hours on the computer every day working on organizing and entering 40 years of research and surfing the web. I just returned from a week's "research vacation" in Virginia which included 2 county clerk's offices and the Library of Virginia, and am planning another trip to Connecticut, so we are still out there.

Anne Gwaltney









-----Original Message-----
>From: "Huffstutler, Eric S." <[log in to unmask]>
>Sent: Nov 3, 2010 11:46 AM
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: [VA-HIST] Is Genealogy Dead?
>
>In the past I posted the question "Is Genealogy Dead" because of
>seemingly lack of interest these days.  Then I got a flurry of responses
>but not about a year later, I again pose this question.
>
>I do so because I have talked with history research departments that
>handle genealogy in various cities in other states as well as my own
>experiences and can say that:
>
>1) Volunteers have become a dying breed.
>
>2) Websites are not maintained on a regular basis as in the past which
>include old URL addresses and/or dead links within pages and no new
>materials added.  Even a leader like Rootsweb is a mess.
>
>3) Websites like RAOGK have people listed but you rarely receive a
>response from anyone now - mainly because their email address has
>changed due to their backing out being a volunteer and cycles back to #2
>above.
>
>I feel that within the past 20-30 years the hobby has died out.  the
>generation interested has retired and packed their work away or has
>themselves died and the following generations have zero interest in
>things "old".  Have no family bonds as those in years past prior to the
>computer age.  And basically could care less (the general attitude of
>people in the work force today).
>
>What is one to do for those of us who wish to continue finding lost
>relatives from afar and rely on the Internet?
>
>Eric 
> 
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