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Archiver > LAORLEAN > 2010-03 > 1268769593


From: Alexa <>
Subject: Re: [LAORLEAN] Who Do You Think You Are?
Date: Tue, 16 Mar 2010 12:59:53 -0700 (PDT)
In-Reply-To: <1822982887.14813861268238166803.JavaMail.root@sz0079a.westchester.pa.mail.comcast.net>


Kathleen,

Thanks for the link.  I watched it the first week (March 5th) but forgot all about it March 12th!  Thanks for reminding me.  I'll make a note to remind myself this week.

I started my genealogy quest around 1975, pre-Roots mini-series, and remember watching it in awe.  "How did that guy find out all that information?", I kept asking.  I had been having a devil of a time with my genealogy, and I was a Librarian!  My research began after hearing my mother and her family repeatedly claim Irish roots when I knew their name was quite English, and everyone, including English neighbors, said so, too.  So after hearing that for more than 20 years, I began my endeavor.  It's 35 years later and I have yet to find an Irishman on her side of the family!  Just shows how "family lore" can grow and not go away.

I just wish this series would show more of the nitty-gritty of genealogical research rather than just the glamour.  Or I wish our research would be more glamorous, like the series.  If you know what I mean.  :::wink:::

I was able to see the 4th episode of the PBS series (mentioned below) last week online.  Unsure how long any of those will remain up since the series isn't shown weekly.  It was quite interesting about genome and we could see how people really are connected to each other (Adam and Eve, where are you?).

About those papers in the attic, the cellar, the basement, the garage, I can't tell you how many times I've been told papers were thrown out because the person was no longer alive!  Horrors!  Thankfully we have archives, courthouses, historical societies, genealogists and historians who believe otherwise.

Thanks for sharing!

Alexa



--- On Wed, 3/10/10, Kathleen Wieland <> wrote:


I imagine some of you may have heard about this program, or even seen its debut last Friday (March 5).  I missed it on TV, but today I was thrilled to find that I could view it on my computer.  Here is the link: 

http://www.nbc.com/who-do-you-think-you-are/video/episodes/#vid=1206958

It is wonderful to know that genealogy, the  passionate persuit we share here,  has made it back to primetime TV.  Way back when, the miniseries Roots was what gave me the inspiration to start digging for my own ancestors and interviewing my aging relatives.  Hopefully, this show (as well as the wonderful series that have been done by Henry Louis Gates for PBS) will spread the enthusiasm.  More importantly, I hope it will help more people understand that those piles of old papers in the attics, the boxes in the cellars of town halls, and the collections held by  financially strapped libraries are PRECIOUS - and well worth the expense of maintaining, preserving, and making available for researchers.  

Who Do You Think You Are? airs on Fridays on NBC - 8 pm Eastern, so I would assume 7 pm Central.


Kathleen

P.S. You can also see Faces of America , the latest genealogy miniseries from Henry Louis Gates, online.  It is up on the PBS web site.  http://www.pbs.org/wnet/facesofamerica/   PBS usually only keeps the full episodes online for a short time, so I would check it out soon, if you are interested.  They also sell the DVD for about $25, so you can purchase it (or even better, get your local library to purchase it!). 






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