The future of genealogy

[lydiaann]

The following is a quote from "The Madness of Crowds" by Louise Penny, a Canadian author.

Reine-Marie Gamache, an archivist, is going through a box of possessions that she has been asked to sort and classify.  Please note, in my own mind, I have added the word "genealogists"...you will see where when you read it.

"...And there were letters. Lots of them.

"Taking out a pile and smoothing them on her lap, Reine-Marie picked up the top one and wondered, not for the first time, what the next general of archivists and biographers would do. No one wrote letters anymore. No one had printed photographs and albums for historians, or even family members, to pore over. Everything was in a cloud and needed a password...".

Discuss.

[Andrew Tarr]

No one wrote letters anymore. No one had printed photographs and albums for historians, or even family members, to pore over.

And no-one bothered to marry either, and many liaisons only lasted a few years ....

[Ruskie]

….. not sure how it will all work with surrogate mothers ….   

[Mowsehowse]

I watched the Stacey Dooley DNA programme yesterday.
Using DNA, a deceased, sperm donor father was traced. The adult daughter was thrilled to be presented with a half sibling.
Using DNA, a happily adopted mother of 6 learned about her biological father.
Using DNA, a father of 2 was told he did not carry the same gene thought to have caused a cancer in his brother.
I guess there is the future of genealogy?
 

[lydiaann]

Yes, mowsehowse, I agree with you.  But will it tell their descendants what their life was like, the clothes they wore, the jobs they had to do to survive, where they met their future spouses?  Will it show their struggles with loss of jobs because of injury, sickness, or even sheer bad luck? 

I struggled when I first started out on my journey...I had the photos but very, very few of them were ascribed to a certain person or place.  A couple had names on them that I did not recognise and only found them years later when researching whole families (rather than just the direct ancestor).  In that respect, I am gradually completing the task and annotating the photos with names, dates and occasion.  I still have a few to go but, having been bolstered by another very recent discovery, I am confident that these last few will reveal their secrets to me.

I have received facsimiles of handwritten letters and I make it a priority that I 'decipher' them and type them up so that others can read them.  And they reveal some very interesting and sad information.  I wouldn't get that from DNA.

Sadly, I think 'Reine-Marie' was right - and it is a shame in my estimation.

[Viktoria]

Well as was said of poor Trigger in “ Only Fools and Horses”,that on his
Birth Certificate ,under FATHER it said “ Some soldiers “ ——-

As for writing letters, I cannot find notepaper,writing paper ,stationery etc anywhere in our town and as yet not in Bury either!
So it is obviously assumed that people don’t write letters any more,well they won’t will they if there is no #&&#&& paper to write on!

I find it all rather sordid and given the behaviour of many children now — ,without the framework of family etc goodness only knows how much worse it will get.
We need a few retrograde steps never mind “ future developments” .
Oh I am going for a nice cup of tea before that is a thing of the past.

Viktoria.

[BumbleB]

Viktoria - try W H Smith

[Andrew Tarr]

Viktoria - try W H Smith

And it doesn't have to be 'writing paper' - you can find A4 for printers in many supermarkets, and easily make A5 if you wish.

I too watched the DNA programme yesterday - or most of it, I got fed up with the woman who seemed well-adjusted with 6 children (plenty enough  ) but wanted to be told whether they could have inherited her killer father's nature.  Couldn't help wondering what would have happened if she had been told Yes ... 

[Viktoria]

Thanks, I have folded A4 but the size of envelope does look rather “businesslike” .
I like to have the heavy lined guide paper to keep my lines of writing straight.

Which came first? No paper so emails or emails so no paper?
Stop the world I want to get off  .

I am going to look at my six month old great grand daughter—- playing to the camera you could believe.
A touch of reality!
Thanks to you both.V .