Telling HerStory 2014: Tracing Your Female Ancestors

The Book:

Tracing Your Female Ancestors (A special publication from Internet Genealogy and Family Chronicle magazine.)

What's it about:

From the Internet Genealogy website: "Internet Genealogy and Family Chronicle are pleased to present Tracing Your Female Ancestors, a new, 68-page special issue compiled by Gena Philibert-Ortega, a regular contributor Family Chronicle and Internet Genealogy, and the author of From the Family Kitchen: Discover Your Food Heritage and Preserve Favorite Recipes. Gena provides readers with a comprehensive collection of tips and strategies for locating female ancestors in a variety of different sources — both common and not-so-common."

Why you should read it:

This magazine provides an overall look at tracing your female ancestor. Resources, ideas and methodology can be found in this magazine. (Please forgive the blatant self-promotion.)


Additional resources:

• Tracing Your Female Ancestors

Telling HerStory 2014 Meets Church Record Sunday: Relief Society Magazine

Amazon.com

The Book:

A Legacy Remembered: The Relief Society Magazine, 1914-1970 

What's it about:

The Relief Society Magazine of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons).


Why you should read it:

I've blogged about The Relief Society Magazine before and what a great resource it is for finding names and images of 20th century Mormon women. This book includes selections from the magazine. I would also highly recommend checking out the online digitized copies of the magazine. Links can be found at my previous article.


Additional resources:

• Church Record Sunday Meets Women's History Month 2013: Relief Society Magazine

Telling HerStory 2014: A History of the Wife

The Book:

A History of the Wife by Marilyn Yalom

What's it about:

A history of ordinary women, wives, in the Western world.


Why you should read it:

Chapters on topics like Republican Wives in American and France, Victorian Wives on Both Side of the Atlantic and Victorian Wives on the American Frontier can help you to better understand your female ancestors. There's more to their lives than just being a "housewife." Reading this will help you better understand your ancestor's life.


Additional resources:

• Marilyn Yalom

Telling HerStory 2014: Women of the Northern Plains

The Book:

Barbara Handy-Marchello's book Women of the Northern Plains. Gender & Settlement on the Homestead Frontier 1870-1930

Today's book is one I featured last year for Women's History Month. The following is excerpted from that post.


What's it about:

From Amazon.com: "Women of the Plains uncovers the significant and changing roles of Dakota farm women who were true partners to their husbands, their efforts marking the difference between success and failure for their families."


Why you should read it:

We tend to downplay the ability to find information about our farm ancestor's lives by stating "they were only farmers" like that means automatically there would be no records. Assuming this would be wrong. This book is a great example of what genealogically rich sources are out there.

Just a few of the sources in this book include:

• Interviews
• Dairies and journals
• Pioneer interviews (conducted by the WPA)
• Records and interviews  from women's organizations such as the North Dakota Federation of Women's Clubs 
• Memoirs

The author also used other types of materials such as  histories, newspapers, and  government publications.

Additional resources:

• Fink, Deborah. Agrarian Women: Wives and Mothers in Rural Nebraska, 1880-1940. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1992.

• Jensen, Joan M. Loosening the Bonds: Mid-atlantic Farm Women, 1750-1850. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1986. 

• Lauters, Amy M. More Than a Farmer's Wife: Voices of American Farm Women, 1910-1960. Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 2009. 

• Pickle, Linda S. Contented Among Strangers: Rural German-Speaking Women and Their Families in the Nineteenth-Century Midwest. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1996. 

• Walker, Melissa. All We Knew Was to Farm: Rural Women in the Upcountry South, 1919-1941. Baltimore, Md: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2000. 

Telling HerStory 2014: The Lost Ravioli Recipes of Hoboken

The Book:

The Lost Ravioli Recipes of Hoboken. A Search for Food and Family by Laura Scenone

What's it about:

From the author's website: "Award-winning author Laura Schenone goes on an quest to retrieve a long-lost family recipe, traveling from New Jersey's gritty industrial wastelands and the fast-paced disposable culture of its suburbs to the dramatically beautiful coast of Liguria -- with its pesto, smoked chestnuts, torte, and -- most beloved of all -- ravioli, the food of celebration and happiness. Along the way, she gives us the comedies and heartbreaks of family life, a story of love and loss, and the mysteries of pasta, rolled into a perfect circle of gossamer dough."


Why you should read it:

You might be thinking "what does this have to do with genealogy?" And I would reply "Everything!" This is a great book about family stories and proving/disproving them by using all types of sources including interviews, heirlooms, and traveling to the familial homeland. I can't say enough about this book. It doesn't matter that your ancestors weren't Italian, READ IT! It's a great example of being curious about your family, asking questions, and then seeking the answers.


Additional resources:

• Laura Schenone website
• The Lost Ravioli Recipes of Hoboken on YouTube

Telling HerStory 2014: American Women's Organizations

The Book:

The History of American Women's Voluntary Organizations, 1810-1960 by Karen J. Blair

What's it about:

This is an annotated bibliography that includes almost 700 books and articles about women's volunteer groups. These groups include political, religious, benevolent, cultural, etc.

Why you should read it:

You will find information about your female ancestor by learning about what groups/organizations she was a member of, their history, and where the records are kept. Think of this book as a finding aid to do that. I love this book because it opens up new possibilities that I hadn't thought of before.


Additional resources:

• Bowling Together: Women's Voluntary Organizations and American Civic Life by Marla R. Miller

Telling HerStory 2014: The Hidden Half of the Family

The Book:

The Hidden Half of the Family: A Sourcebook for Women's Genealogy by Christina K. Schaefer

What's it about:

Researching your female ancestors! Includes different source types as well as information about laws, key dates and records for each state. Bibliographies and resources for each state will help you find additional documents and sources.


Why you should read it:

This is one of two books available for US genealogists that focus on researching female ancestors. It goes without saying that it's a must-have. I love this book because it  takes into consideration historical events and practices that influence your research.

If you don't know about author, Christina K. Schaefer's other books I also recommend them. They include, The Great War. A Guide to the Service Records of All the World's Fighting Men and Volunteers; Guide to Naturalization Records of the United States; and Genealogical Encyclopedia of the Colonial Americas. A Complete Digest of the Records of All the Countries of the Western Hemisphere.


Additional resources:

• The Hidden Half of the Family on Google Books