or, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to Fear and Loathing at a Public Library Reference Desk


You Know You’re A Genealogist If…

   December 9th, 2008 Brian Herzog

genealogy booksOne of the publications that gets mailed to my library is aROUNDtheTABLE, the newsletter of The Genealogy Roundtable in Concord, MA.

In addition to success stories from peoples' family research, it also often has tips on things like scanning black and white negatives, how photos can be used for research, etc. This issue also had some humorous columns - here are some excerpts which made me laugh on a Tuesday afternoon:

You know you're addicted to Genealogy...

  • ...when you brake for libraries
  • ...if you get locked in a library overnight and you never even notice

Top ten worst ways to begin a family history:

  • #8 - "Cal me Ishmael," our ancestor Ishmael Johnson might have said if you asked, "What should we call you?"
  • #6 - Let me start by saying this book would have been better if my g'damn relatives had answered my g'damn questions.
  • #1 - In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. Several years later, my grandmother was born in Des Moines.

Ah, humor makes any periodical more interesting.

And speaking of genealogy, I attended a great genealogy session at the annual NELA conference. Given by Cindy O’Neil of the Manchester (NH) City Library, it outlined the resources needed for a genealogy core collection (for New England), and is worth skimming.



Tags: , , , , , , , ,