Shannon Bennett – Page 17 – International Institute of Genealogical Studies

The Many Facets of the Family Story

By Shannon Bennett, Student Have you ever thought about how many points of view there are within one family story? Each person who was there heard, saw, felt, or interpreted the situation differently. Just ask your family about an event from when you were a child. I bet that while similar, they are all different. These next two modules (Modules 3 and 4 of Demystifying Culture & Folklore ) touched on aspects of this phenomena. Course author Jean Wilcox Hibben made this point at the beginning of Module 4: “As genealogists, it is our responsibility to analyze the family story … the truth or falsehood(s) with it.” Many people want to believe that everything told to them by an ancestor has to be 100% true. You know, it might be, from their point of view. But you have to think about it, who has another side? If it was a story passed down, was the whole story told or only part? Everyone has something to hide, so were facts fudged or exaggerated? Hibben drives these points home through examples of her own family. Examples that I can see in mine as well. What I found fascinating was using Bormann’s Theory of Symbolic Convergence to understand my family and its stories better. Jean Wilcox Hibben put it simply: “by studying the paradigm of the communication of a group, a researcher can analyze the history of the unit [family] and assess its dynamics.” Communication is always key, how did our family groups communicate within the house and even outside of the house. Think about how this could have effected perceptions of them and in turn the stories they told to the next generation. As an example, my grandfather was career military. He and my grandmother grew up in a small farming community. As soon as she graduated high school they eloped and left. That was 1936. He served in World War II, they traveled the world, and he finally retired in 1965. They decided to move back home and he took up his portion of the family farm. My mother and her older brother remember it as a horrible time. Even though their parents were accepted back into the fold, mostly, the children were not. My mother and uncle were outsiders. They were picked on, ostracized, and teased simply because they were not born in the community and did not know the norms…

Learning More About Family History and Culture

By Shannon Bennett, Student Wow! This course, Demystifying Culture & Folklore started off with a bang. Lots of information and a page turner to boot. It’s hard to believe that I am even more excited now than I was before the first day started. However, if you remember my introduction post to this course, I am a self-confessed myth and folklore geek. What I liked, and I didn’t get from the undergrad courses I took, is that this is firmly family centered. How we take those standard terms, throes, and ideas then turn the magnifying glass on ourselves and our family, not another culture. Well, I guess in some ways we are doing that too since many of us are descendants of immigrants. From the beginning we were told to examine our family and explore our roots to see: That was a big task, a daunting task some would say. Honestly it takes a lot of guts to really analyze your family and come to an understanding about what they did and why they did it. Thankfully the instructor, professional genealogist and folklorist Jean Wilcox Hibben, does not throw you into the deep end. Each section began with a list of terms and their definitions. Terms which lead to discussion and understanding of how everything from material goods, unspoken customs, and assumptions affected the lives of our ancestors. The exercises in these modules worked in conjunction with the new terms I read as well. Instead of thinking about long dead civilizations and what their symbols meant I found myself dissecting what I knew about my own family. That was difficult, more difficult than I anticipated. Fun and educational, but difficult. I was surprised about what I could pull out of my memories. The nuances in the way a story was told. The unwritten norms and mores that I was indoctrinated with as a child. Plus, how the word sub-culture really isn’t a bad thing. In fact, I think I count eight sub-cultures that I belong to! The next two modules should be even more fun as we learn about cultural assimilation and family folklore. See you online!

Starting My Next Course: Demystifying Culture and Folklore

Shannon Bennett, Student A good story can captivate the hearts and minds of listeners for years. Sometimes, when you have heard a story repeatedly, you can pick up the little embellishments and the differences that occur as a story develops and changes. Family stories are the same way. They captivated us as children, intrigued us as adults, and are information to be proved as genealogists. The next course I am enrolled in is Demystifying Culture and Folklore. I have to admit that as soon as I saw the title on the course list I knew I wanted to take it. In college I took a folklore class and have been fascinated by mythology from different cultures my whole life. It is one of those odd interests of mine that I love to feed with a good story from time to time. Judging from the course description, Demystifying Culture and Folklore promises to be a great class. The focus will be on looking at various cultures and how their traditions and folklore shaped the people of today. There will be a module on how a new culture affected immigrants and cultural assimilation. Plus connecting the stories of our ancestors to who we are today. Of course, you can’t have a class like this without talking about Joseph Campbell. For many people he is the face of modern mythology and folklore research. Lucky for me I have read his series of books “The Mask of God” and “A Hero with a Thousand Faces.” If you are interested in mythos and folklore they should be at the top of your reading list. I will be interested to read what our instructor thinks of him. I admit that I am intrigued by the assignment teaser given on the introduction page: “students will be encouraged to apply course theory to their own lives and the lives of their forebears in personal application essays.” Oh, I love to write, almost as much as I love to talk, and being able to analyze my family through this lens should produce some amazing results. Or, fingers crossed, I hope it will. This should be a very interesting class and I am excited to turn the microscope on my family to see what I find. Hope you will join me over the next month as I take this course. It should be a great time! See you online! …

Methodology, Part 2: Finishing Up

Shannon Bennett, Student Another Methodology course done, another four to go! Whew, I will make it because you will cheer me on right? This one was, once again, packed full of information to help a researcher build a good foundation for their genealogical research. I know the information taught here will help me and others who take the class be better in their genealogical endeavors. The theme of organization was carried on throughout the course. We were shown new forms we could use, ways to organize our finds, our time, and our office. All things that I know many genealogists struggle with from time to time. Just know that you are not alone in that, but maybe these ideas will help you with it. I know I picked up a few new tips! I particularly found the words of encouragement from the summary section helpful. In it the instructor walks us through how to stay focused, organized, and on task. I don’t know about you, but I struggle with the “oh shiny” problem from time to time. Remembering to stay focused and not go down rabbit holes was always a struggle for me. Using the tips and tricks learned here I am sure I will be able to focus better in the future. Once again I discovered new information in the research skills section. While I am pretty confident in my research abilities I found myself nodding along with the list and mumbling to myself “I never thought of it that way before!” Again, no one should ever scoff at basic level lectures, programs, or classes. You never know when inspiration will strike or if someone will present something in a way that just clicks with you. Hopefully you will join me at the chat I will be doing where you can hear more about my thoughts on these first two methodology courses. Join me on April 17th at 11:00am (EST). See you online!

Methodology, Part 2: That 1 Thing

Shannon Bennett, Student What’s the biggest complaint among serious hobby or professional genealogist? Do you know? Well, from the comments I have seen and heard, that would be source citations. More particularly, the lack of them. Are you guilty of this, because if so when you take Methodology, Part 2 and get to module 6 you will find out why citing your sources is important. On the first page of the module you learn why citing your sources is critical: These two items are the underpinnings of good research practices. People who read your research in the future must have confidence in you. They have confidence in you because of the types of materials you use. Those researchers know what types of sources you used due to the citations you create. Without them how do they know where you found that information? For all they know you could have made it up. Through the module you will learn what elements need to be recorded to have a complete citation. One of the elements a lot of people may not realize is important is including a description of the location you retrieved the information from. For a website it could simply be a list of the clicks you preformed (Ancestry.com > 1880 US Census > Indiana > ….) that way you or someone else could get back to that exact page. Or if you visited a brick and mortar building you should include information on which collection you looked at and any particular identifiers another researcher will need to follow on where they should look for this information (County Courthouse > Clerk’s office > Collection name > …) The key is consistency. If you choose to use your own method, the suggested way in the module, or the examples from Elizabeth Shown Mills book Evidence Explained stick with one and do it that way for everything you create. Use the same style, punctuation, italics, etc. for every citation you write. It will help you and not leave you second guessing what you wrote down. One last important note. Source citations are a fundamental part of the Genealogical Proof Standard (GPS). The GPS, set by the Board for Certification of Genealogists (BCG), is what serious researchers use as their guidebook. If you don’t have a copy of their standards manual you should think about picking one up. Every researcher needs a copy…