PROPOSAL TYPE
Roundtable
SEEKING
- Seeking Additional Presenters
- Seeking General Feedback and Interest
RELATED TOPICS
- Memory
- Reflections on the Field
- Genealogy
ABSTRACT
Genealogical methods enhance traditional historical research by refocusing our attention to microhistory. Uncovering the secrets of a family’s past is not only personal but is essential to understanding greater historical trends in intimate and complex ways. The session will present real world examples of methods and tools used by genealogists, namely the FAN Method (Friends; Associates; Neighbors), family charts, and study projects to demonstrate how they are being utilized genealogists to capture the complexities and nuances of history in the United States by exposing overlooked stories and increasing access to the past. Ultimately, the session is interested in how genealogical tools are helping preserve the history of all peoples.
DESCRIPTION
As a historian turned genealogist, I am always interested in increasing conversations and cooperation across both fields. While I thought my historical training automatically granted me the knowledge to be a skilled genealogist, I had a lot to learn switching fields. Focusing my career on genealogy changed the way I view historical research and it’s uses for the public. I know both fields can learn much from each other, and hope a panel on the use of genealogical methods in historical research or public history spaces would prove useful to the field.
I would appreciate feedback on the proposed topic of the panel. I am also seeking additional panelists that are utilizing these methods at their institutions or in their academic work. Some questions the panel might consider:
-How does genealogy reach people in a different way than other methods of historical research?
-What does family research contribute to our understanding of memory, community, and place?
-Often people’s curiosity about their own family is a gateway to learning about broader historical events. How can Genealogy in public institutions be a tool for fostering public engagement in history?
-How do genealogical databases enhance the work of historians? How do they help encourage greater access to history by the public?
-What genealogical methods are being utilized by your institution to enhance exhibitions, education, or public programming?
If you have a direct offer of assistance, sensitive criticism, or wish to pass along someone’s contact information confidentially, please get in contact directly:
Meaghan Siekman, American Ancestors (Formerly New England Historic Genealogical Society) Boston, Massachusetts, [email protected]
All feedback and offers of assistance should be sent by November 15, 2025. If you have general ideas or feedback to share, please feel free to use the comments feature below.
I think this will be very popular, and I have often thought that I would have no real idea how to engage in genealogy in any meaningful way! I wonder if you might also include ethical considerations on this panel: what happens when genealogical research is used by law enforcement? what happens when it reveals relationships that were secret or hidden?
It might be interesting to consider pairing your work with the work of oral historians who specialize in whole life histories for families.
Denise – Thank you for your feedback! I am envisioning this panel encouraging a great deal of discussion between panelists and the audience rather than simply presentations about the work being done. We will certainly address the ethical considerations of this work as a question posed to all the panelists. I am hopeful that it will prove to be an inspiring and worthwhile session. I hope to see you there!
I agree with Denise that this could be very interesting from the ethical point of view. Many years ago, I found a little travel diary from the 1880s, belonging to a teenager making the Grand Tour of Europe with her parents. As I poked around the internet sources, I eventually wound up with some ethical dilemmas that went back to the question of why the diary was dumped in a used book bin, and I found some fraught familial relationships. In the end, I had more information than I think I had the right to know …