AUS-Tasmania-L Archives

Archiver > AUS-Tasmania > 2001-04 > 0988198649


From: Monissa Whiteley <>
Subject: Re: [AUS-Tas] Von Stieglitz Books
Date: Wed, 25 Apr 2001 21:37:29 +1000
In-Reply-To: <01e401c0cd79$e587e800$aca093cb@eluned>


At 09:21 pm 25/04/01 +1000, Eluned Lloyd wrote:
>As the great Welsh historian Gwyn Alf Williams said to students 'One golden
>rule is to
>assume that all your books are written by congenital liars'. For us family
>historians it means go to source perhaps.

Yeah. Books are certainly good as a starting point though - once we accept
their limitations.

I've more of a writer these days than a family historian (you can tell when
I'm supposed to be working on a stroy because I start posting a lot) so a
lot of my research is for backgrounds & settings for stories. It's possible
to spend hours or days chasing up obscure sources and references (esp. if
you're easily distracted) so I understand *why* people take the easy route.
You think family history is frustrating? Try finding out the social
niceties and typical conversations of an early colonial dinner party ;)


Monissa

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