Britain's What's On Event Guide
Adding social history to your family tree - Dr Penny Walters
History is concerned with politics, wars, royalty, politicians. As the saying goes - ‘History was written by the victorious.’ Social history is concerned with the lives of ordinary people. Most or all of our ancestors didn’t enter any history books. Social history views history from what could be termed the ‘bottom up,’ not ‘top down.’ Looking through the lens of the past will enhance your understanding of how people lived, worked and played in their daily lives. The small details of someone’s life tells a fuller story of who they were. Writing our ancestors’ stories becomes like a puzzle, inserting pieces here and there, as we find them. Nobody will know the detailed story of any ancestor - at the very most we may access a number of their diaries or journals. Much of the information is from very specific days in a person’s life. If we found an ancestor on censuses, and hopefully a birth, death, and marriage certificate, that only adds up to about 10 anchor point days of their total life. We want to know what our ancestors and relatives did all day?
This session will help you insert your ancestor or relative in a specific time period and place with local, national, and world events which had social and historical impacts, and aid writing their micro history.
Dr. Penny Walters has been a University lecturer for 35 years, currently teaching at Bath Spa University Business School. Penny's interest in genealogy started after having her first baby and then wondering about her biological parents, as she was adopted. Penny has six mixed race children, who have all enjoyed discovering their roots through DNA ethnicity results. Penny lectures internationally in-person, including throughout America, Australia, Ireland, and the UK. Penny has authored the books: 'Ethical Dilemmas in Genealogy' (2019) and ‘The Psychology of Searching’ (2020), available on Amazon in paperback or on Kindle. www.searchmypast.co.uk
This session will help you insert your ancestor or relative in a specific time period and place with local, national, and world events which had social and historical impacts, and aid writing their micro history.
Dr. Penny Walters has been a University lecturer for 35 years, currently teaching at Bath Spa University Business School. Penny's interest in genealogy started after having her first baby and then wondering about her biological parents, as she was adopted. Penny has six mixed race children, who have all enjoyed discovering their roots through DNA ethnicity results. Penny lectures internationally in-person, including throughout America, Australia, Ireland, and the UK. Penny has authored the books: 'Ethical Dilemmas in Genealogy' (2019) and ‘The Psychology of Searching’ (2020), available on Amazon in paperback or on Kindle. www.searchmypast.co.uk
The talk takes place in person and, for members only, on Zoom, at the Fromus Centre, Street Farm Road, Saxmundham, IP17 1AL (behind the Library). Penny will be speaking to us on Zoom and the talk starts at 2.30pm. No need to book – just turn up — at £1.00 for members, £3.00 for visitors, including tea/coffee/biscuits. Good, free car-parking. Only members can take part in our meetings on Zoom, but it only costs £8 for a year’s membership – see avsfhg.org.uk/membership/ and Zooming is free
Fromus Centre, Street Farm Road, Saxmundham, (behind the Library), Suffolk IP17 1AL
Mon 20 Jan 2025
Website:
avsfhg.org.uk/