That is an excellent point.
Genealogy will not always work for US history courses. Some students will
be recent immigrants, while others may have environments at home that will
cause them to resist family research. For such students "micro-history" may
well be a suitable substitute. Research your house, if it is an old one.
If not, find another house that looks old and cool that you pass by, or
perhaps even a commercial building, and research that. They can find the
names of owners and root around in the census records and online newspaper
archives and try to piece together their stories.
Of course, that is easier as the dates of course coverage get more recent.
Finding houses from 1900 or 1920 is not that hard. But if you need to find
one from the 18th century, then the pickings get pretty slim in many areas.
Perhaps the history of a road or street?
Anyway, I am a big believer in that sort of "micro-history".
Lee Ness
Town of Potomac (VA) Historical Assn.
-----Original Message-----
From: Liana Arias
Sent: Tuesday, June 30, 2015 8:44 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [VA-HIST] VA-HIST Digest - 26 Jun 2015 to 29 Jun 2015
(#2015-78)
As a foreigner who bought a very old house in Roanoke Virginia and decided
to follow the link of the families in my house back in time (to the 1740's!)
I can assure you that it was surprisingly rewarding and it helped me learn
so much about the local history and customs as well as the history of those
countries my homeowners left and their movements in the US following
regional happenings. History, as it was mentioned below, stopped being a
series of dates and names and became something more interesting even that tv
sagas sometimes are because it was real, pertinent and interesting. It
allowed me to have a logical, linear understanding of history over time that
many, many years of studying history in Spanish schools could not
accomplish. As you can see, it does not have to even be personal genealogy
either.If you can develop a link your students can understand between
themselves and history, you will have them hooked for life. Humans, as Dr.
Yuval Harari says, are gossipers by nature so, we should be wired for
interest in history too.
As an added plus, Biotechnology is one of the most important developments of
our lifetime, or the most important one, and understanding where we come
from may be vital to help our aging process down the line as well as helping
us get along in this complicated world as learning our own local or personal
history would give us an uncanning depth of perception to understanding
human nature(s) and its evolution through time. And, it would make the
teaching of what can be a tedious subject so much more palatable. My vote
would be YES to teaching genealogy in Schools, and to do it early on.
Thanks for bringing such a great topic up.
Liana Arias de Velasco
-----Original Message-----
From: VA-HIST automatic digest system
Sent: Tuesday, June 30, 2015 12:00 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: VA-HIST Digest - 26 Jun 2015 to 29 Jun 2015 (#2015-78)
There is 1 message totaling 43 lines in this issue.
Topics of the day:
1. Genealogy as a history course
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Date: Sat, 27 Jun 2015 15:35:59 -0500
From: "M. Skinner" <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Re: Genealogy as a history course
This sounds good to me. History was my least favorite subject in school
(that
was in the dark ages when history in school= lists of dates to learn), and I
always thought genealogy was for little old ladies who wanted to prove their
"connection"-- especially in Virginia-- to something snobby. Then I met a
genealogist in the UK as a young adult and my mind was changed forever.
Making history personal makes it so much more interesting and real.
-Melinda Skinner
On 06/26/15, John Adams wrote:
Since so many of you are esteemed educators, what do you all feel would be
the teaching of genealogy and how the persons in your family history either
affected or precipitated history.
I have taught briefly at a Jr. College in Baytown, Texas a genealogy course.
Primarily this was only for family research, HOWEVER as I was able to show
what was happening during a family member was in Scotland, Ireland, England
(Cromwell for my family), Germany, or Spain. The students started seeing the
factors that MADE their ancestor pack up and leave their homes.
ALSO, they started to understand economic and sociological factors that made
them to move to the new world.
Professor Gates of Harvard has received loads of attention for his PBS
series, but I feel that this could be a great addition to the History
departments, especially in Virginia, North Carolina and Massachusetts.
Anyone's opinion?
Thanks
John Philip Adams
Texas
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http://listlva.lib.va.us/archives/va-hist.htmlThis sounds good to me.
History was my least favorite subject in school (that
was in the dark ages when history in school= lists of dates to learn), and I
always thought genealogy was for little old ladies who wanted to prove their
"connection"-- especially in Virginia-- to something snobby. Then I met a
genealogist in the UK as a young adult and my mind was changed forever.
Making history personal makes it so much more interesting and real.
-Melinda Skinner
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To subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe please see the instructions at
http://listlva.lib.va.us/archives/va-hist.html
------------------------------
End of VA-HIST Digest - 26 Jun 2015 to 29 Jun 2015 (#2015-78)
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