Thursday, July 21, 2011

Monday, July 18, 2011

Movie "The Help"

Watching the trailer for "The Help" movie reminds me that I need to record my grandmother's story about her working life as a Domestic for white families from the early 1940s to sometime during the 1970s. She refers to her working life as “Day’s Work” and I’ve heard others from her generation use this term to refer to Domestic work.

Thanks to Robin Foster of Saving Stories for posting this link on Facebook today. The trailer certainly ignited oral histories I’ve heard over the years and motivated me to revisit these memories from my grandmother. In Grandma's china closet are various items given to her by some of her employers and I recall conversations with her about which items were given by whom. However, I don’t recall who gave what so this time I plan to record these memories.


Therefore my genealogy priories for the week are as follows:


  1. Write down what I remember Grandma saying about her life as a Domestic.

  2. Write down questions to ask her about her life as a Domestic.

  3. Take photos and inventory items in china closet which were given to her by her employers and record her memories of these items.

  4. Begin recording and writing her memories of her life as a Domestic in Richmond, VA, Washington, DC, and Newport News, VA.



Trailer for Movie, "The Help"


Mary J. Blige records New Song For the Help

Tuesday, July 12, 2011

Guest Appearance on Blog Talk Radio Show



I am pleased to announce that and I will be a guest on Geneabloggers Blog Talk Radio Show this Friday night, July 15, 2011 att 10:00 EST, along with Nicka Smith of The Atlas Family blog, Jari Honora of Bayou Roots, Elyse Doerflinger of Elyse’s Genealogy Blog.

The show, Cool Ideas for Involving Youth in Genealogy, will be hosted by Dear Myrtle. Nicka and I will be sharing about the successful youth genealogy/historical research programs we just completed. Nicka’s program was in California and mine was in Virginia. Jari and Elyse will be sharing about their experiences as young genealogy/family historians.

Hope you will tune in to this great show on Friday night as the four of us share “Cool Ideas for Involving Youth in Genealogy.” BTW, I will be giving a surprise announcement on the show, so you’ll want to be among the first to hear.

See you Friday night!