Title Details

A practical guide to researching family history with a strong personal development angle, addressing the need for a holistic and creative approach

The process of exploring one's family history and roots is a moving and meaningful quest. It affects heart and soul, as well as providing an intellectual challenge to piece all the information together. This is the first book to combine the experiential aspects of family history research with sound, practical advice, helping to lift genealogy out of its earlier dry and formal setting, into a more meaningful and accessible activity which can enrich a person's identity. It offers clear and friendly guidance on finding the data and sources needed, sets out the practicalities of setting up a family history project, and offers tips on how to organize research and keep moving forward. It also explains how to identify the emotional motivations behind research, and reveals the nature of ancestry, family lines, and our inner connection with our ancestors. Drawing from a specially commissioned survey from among family historians, it includes their quotations, stories, and advice. In encouraging an imaginative approach, this book opens the way to creative use of family history material, for example through painting, weaving, writing, and photography.