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Join us for Genealogy Open Computer Lab (In-Person) from 12:00pm-1:15pm. Learn more and register at https://nova.libcal.com/event/10597839. 

History informs genealogy. It is the means to determine "the meat on the bones." the authentic context of the past lives that genealogists strive to reconstruct. Many genealogists experience that exciting connection when they find famous, well-documented events and individuals in their family lines. Still more genealogists hope to make such famous "finds" and are frustrated that htey do not. Yet the field of genealogy and vice versa is social history, ordinary people's everyday lives, culturally predictable in their family and social group contexts.

Using social history, historical resources, with family data and primary sources, you can predict and explain ancestors' life choices, work and social lives, migration patterns, politics and religion, marriage and child naming or raising customs, and even the most private aspects of life. Learning historians' skills and resources, how best to find and approach them, opens a new world to the genealogist. Family history can seem more complete and fufilling. Creaing projects to preserve recollections, documents, and artifacts with historical methods makes their preservation in permanent public collections more likely. You will have "brought your family history to life."

Katherine Scott Sturdevant is the senior professor of History at Pikes Peak Community College in Colorado Springs. She has BA and MA degrees in History from San Francisco State University and PhD candidacy from UC Santa Barbara. Over her 30-year career she has taught a wide variety of subjects in history (U.S., Colorado, Pikes Peak regional, environmental, women's, West, Southwest, Native American) as well as public speaking, and writing. Two of her many publications, Bringing Your Family History to Life through Social History (Betterway Books, 2000) and Organizing and Preserving Your Heirloom Documents (Betterway, 2002) reflect her emphasis on applying historical context, sources, and methods to family history research, organization, preservation, and writing.

The Genealogical Society of Broward County (GSBC) meets monthly
on the first Sunday of every month except when there is a holiday.

We are here to help you find your ancestors.

Visit www.gsbcfl.org for more information about GSBC.

Meetings are free and open to the public.