To be a lover of history and a researcher of your own family history/genealogy, one gets used to the glazed over look, the rolling of the eyes or the smirky smile that you get when discussing anything of this nature with co-workers, friends and family. Get used to it cause once you are bitten it is so very hard not to share with everyone that you come in contact with thru out the day.
I love to say during our morning meetings when they do the "get to know your co workers" exercise of what do you like to do during your spare time...I always throw out " I like to visit cemeteries." Now those that have worked with me for awhile know what I am all about, but the newbies always do a double take. HA HA HA.
If these newbies are brave enough, they always ask me what did I mean when I said that, Ha now I have an opening on telling them all about my researching of my family history/genealogy.
Another thing I like to do, when only a certain manager is on duty, is to play history trivia. Now I work with a lot of young people, who really have no clue about anything history. Its really sad but they enjoy my trivia questions. They try to shout it out before anyone else.. I really do think it is sad that so many of the younger generation has little interest or knowledge of history. So why is that, I remember that we had to pass in 8th grade a test on the US Constitution and our State Constitution, or how my Social Studies or History teachers often inspired the class on what we were studying and the importance of knowing our history. Now when I chat with a teacher that teaches Social Studies or History, they are told how to teach and what to teach. Have we become so concerned about being Political Correct that we are afraid of encouraging great discussions on history. Could this be one of the reasons that I really never see anyone younger than 30 interested in genealogy? So. what can we do as genealogist do to encourage others to get involved in their own family history? I can see how it may have been different when you had to travel to find documents and such, but with the easy access of so many documents via the internet and sites such as Ancestry.com. what can we do.
So, I have decided to reach out and see if I can generate some interest on the high school level and even through my local community college about trying to generate interest. I think that I am going to see if others in the various groups that I belong to give me ideas, chat with some young people what would interest them. And I really don't consider myself an OLD person. If anyone has any great ideas, share share share
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