About This Project

This blog was launched in December 2007, but the project began in the summer of 1974, when my mother gave me a huge scrapbook & photo album, made especially for me, that told the story of where I came from. She made three of these, one for each of her children, because she knew she was going to die soon and that someday we'd have questions - and she wouldn't be there to answer. I kept adding to the book, and collecting stories from other relatives. A few years ago, I began digitizing this unruly pile of yellowing papers and fading photos. That's when something fascinating, and unexpected happened.

We tend to sort our our stories according to relationships or emotional events, which helps us keep track of our immediate relatives, but doesn't do much to help us see our other connections - to people and events that shape us just as forcefully as our family lines. Computers tend to organize things numerically or alphabetically. As I digitized each photo, document, and audio/video tape, I labeled each file by date and dumped them all into a common folder, with links to subfolders which were organized by name. After a certain critical mass was reached, I noticed new stories emerging in the common folder. I saw connections between people who would never meet each other (although their descendants would come together.) I saw what had seemed like personal tragedies as part of a bigger picture that involved many people.

Part of what makes this project work is the inclusion of stories from people who are not only related to me by blood, or marriage, but also by the bonds of friendship, which can sometimes be stronger than any other. Americans tend to change location and reinvent themselves, and friends are part of that process. Sometimes your best friend's grandmother can affect your life as forcefully as your own grandmother.

So - here's the plan. I'm including stories of people who have a personal connection to me, and/or a connection to someone who is connected to me. This means immediate family, cousins, in-laws, ex-spouses, best friends, and the ancestors and best friends of all of them. Let's see where it goes - it could get really big. I have a huge backlog of this stuff on my computer. I'm still digitizing an even bigger pile of stuff. And I have many questions - if I get even a fraction of them answered, there will be even more stuff.

What should I do with all these stories? I'm still working on that . . . I've considered various art projects, visual arts, a book, a film . . . don't know yet, I'm still in the information-gathering phase. But for now, I'm plugging it into this blog format. Last night it dawned on me that blogging software, which is essentially a database platform, would be the perfect program for organizing this stuff. It allows me to combine photos, text, and audio-video. Each entry can be keyed by date, family name, national events, etc. The information can be entered in any order and then later called up by date, family name, national events, etc. And, I can use the comments feature to get my follow-up questions answered.

Got some info you think I should include? How about posting it in the comment section of the appropriate entry? Is it something completely new? Shoot me an email - be sure to put "American Family Anecdotes" in the subject line, so that I can pick it out of the junk mail. Thanks!