Celebrating Seven Years of Blogging at The Family Curator

 

It’s hard to believe that The Family Curator is celebrating another blogiversary. When I wrote my first post back in 2007 for The Family Curator, I was teaching English at a girls Catholic High School and trying to figure out how to deal with the varied remains of my family legacy — a steamer trunk filled with paper and random bits of life.

Fast forward to 2014, and the documents, photos, and letters have been scanned and preserved in archival storage boxes. The Family Curator Blog has matured, and my teaching career has expanded to include family historians. In the spirit of my favorite teachers, I’d like to note a few things I’ve learned from my very generous mentors:

Everything I Know About Family History I Learned from the Genealogists Who Came Before Me

1. Sharing Never Diminishes Knowledge, It Allows It to Expand

It’s true. Holding tight to family photos and information may seem at times to be the prudent thing to do, yet it’s only by sharing and allowing others to make connections or supply missing information that our own knowledge can grow, hurdle brick-walls, and move into new generations. 

2. Encouragement is Under-Rated

It costs nothing but a few minutes of time to send a positive email or affirmative message, and we don’t do it often enough. I am immeasurably grateful to those bloggers who took time to let me know in my early blogging days I was doing something that might be worthwhile. Their encouragement is a gift worth passing on.

3. Conferences and Institutes are About More than Meetings

I finally figured out that conferences aren’t all about the lectures. They’re about the lunchroom, the blogger’s table, and the after-hours meet-ups too. And if you need a lesson on this true-ism, ask any GeneaBlogger.

4. Blogging Begins at Home, and Never Really Ends

Many family historians begin blogs, but it takes dedication and creativity to write day after day, week after week. I tip my hat to bloggers who maintain the pace and continue to share outstanding content and inspiration.

5. Content is King

Good writing about a compelling subject will always trump chatter and chaff. When I started blogging seven years ago, the number of active bloggers was actually quite small. Since that time, hundreds of genealogists have started blogs and websites, and wonderfully some have become new classics in the genea-blogosphere. 

I can’t imagine what the next seven years will hold, but I look forward to the adventure. Genealogy is definitely an E Ticket ride. Thanks for spending time with me at The Family Curator. Here’s to another year of sharing research, stories, and new ideas.