Genealogical research. Family History research. The first term conjures up names, dates, and places. The study of a direct line of descent. The other makes us think of information that fills in the blanks of our ancestral timeline. Museums are a repository that can provide both. They can provide a place to learn about an ancestor's name, date, and place but they also provide the social history between a birth and death date.
What are we looking for when researching our female ancestors at a museum?
Social History: Images, exhibits, and material culture (stuff) that educate us about the history and the everyday lives of our ancestors.
Names: Names of a community's residents, donors to the museum, "famous" people, staff and volunteers, authors, and researchers.
Local History: The history of a time and place. What was going on that impacted our ancestors' lives or was happening while they were alive in that time and place?
Time and Place: What about that time and place? What can we learn about it that impacts our understanding and research into an ancestor's life?
We need to approach our research at a museum with two goals:
1. Do they have anything that includes names and dates that might place my ancestor in this location, at this time? and
2. What can this museum provide me that will help me better understand my ancestor's life (time and place)?
Katherine Scott Sturdevant writes in her book, Bringing Your Family History to Life Through Social History that "Social history is the best tool for reconstructing your ancestor's entire world." There are many sources that help us with social history but the museum is best known for reconstructing a "world" {pg 8}whether that is a community, an occupation, or a historical event. Sturdevant goes on to write "your ancestors were not unique" {pg 10} which is a reason why the museum is a great place to learn more about their lives. The museum recreates that community's common experience.
Resources
Sturdevant, Katherine Scott. Bringing Your Family History to Life Through Social History (Betterway Books, 2000).
*Originally posted: Women's History Month 2021: Why Museums
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