As far back as I can recall, I have always been captivated by stories about real people. As an adult, I naturally gravitated towards genealogy. Over the course of the past year, I’ve ventured into personal history writing. What I found to be true in my quest to understand my family history is that we all have a personal history to tell.
The proof of our existence can be found in the documentation we generate and keep. Personal history is about more then sharing history just to share it. It includes an individual’s thoughts and experiences along their life’s journey. Personal source materials can include, but are not limited to, photographs, newspaper stories, letters, business records, vital records, tax filings, real estate records, estate planning documents, journals, blog posts, social media posts, etc. The list could go on and on depending on the person. These resources are like puzzle pieces that come together and breathe life into people and families from the past. Of course, personal records should be preserved over time to capture a personal history. But in the case where personal papers are not preserved, there is always hope for personal history writers to find documented resources of personal value in public or private record depositories. I wanted to share this post with you to highlight the value of personal record preservation.
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