8 Tips to a Social History Research Plan

July 17, 2017| Lynn| 0 Comments|

I’m getting ready to head to my ancestor’s town next week, but before I go, it’s important to have a research plan in place. Just as you would use a research plan for your genealogy research, you also want to identify a plan for the local and social history research you need to write your family history stories.

I’ve already plotted out my story. For those of you who haven’t taken our plotting course or read Finding the Story Workbook #3, this just means I have outlined my story from beginning to end in great detail. By taking the time to plan my story, it helps tremendously in identifying the local and social history research I need to complete my story. Plotting your story in advance eliminates you from spending a lot of time researching topics that are not pertinent to your story. Your research will be more focused and purposeful.

Next, I spent some time on the internet looking at the various resources available for my visit. I’ve identified some resources available including Perth OGS, Perth/Stratford Archives and The Stratford Museum operated by the Stratford Historical Society. There is also the Stratford Heritage Society which operates the Fryfogel Inn, and I’ve also identified some walking tours through the Stratford Tourism that I think might help me to put some context to the town and the community. I won’t be able to cover all of these identified resources on one trip, so I’m creating a plan and a priority list as it’s probably going to take several visits to complete my research; all the more reason I need a plan. The plan might also need to be adjusted once scope out these locations when I arrive.

Here are eight steps I’ve identified in preparing for a research trip of local and social history research for your family history story.

1. Identify Topics That Need Researching

Start a comprehensive list of research topics. I like to keep this list easily accessible, you can keep it either in a notebook, or my preference is to use Scrivener or Evernote. Evernote being my first choice.

2. Identify Sub-topics

Some research topics may be pretty broad. Take the time to think of any offshoot topics. List them under original items.

3. Organise Your Topics

Not every research topic will be crucial to your story, some will carry more weight than others. Reorganise your topics and subtopics by their level of importance. This way you will optimise your time on the more important issues. As well, some topics might be covered very quickly while others might take some time.

4. Have a Purpose for Each Research Topic

Each topic should be on your research list because they have the potential to add value to your story. Realise why you’ve chosen to include each subject in your research time. Don’t waste your time researching topics that don’t serve your story. This is why identifying your story plotline is important before you begin this research.

5. Identify What You Want to Learn

List what you want to learn about each topic, so you have a clear goal in mind. When you have a goal, it becomes easy to identify when you’ve achieved your goal, and it’s time to move on to the next item on your list. Too often researchers have trouble finishing the research, never getting to the writing. Identify the end game so you know and when it’s time to move on. You also have to know when some research just may not be available. Don’t make your quest for local and social history research an excuse never to get to the writing.

6. Create a Story Box

Before I write a story, I create a Story Box. A story box is basically a container where I pull all my research for a particular story into one place. I create a binder in Evernote for my Story Box. I add all the current documents and information into this binder. The Story Box makes it easy to find and quickly access anything you need about the story you are writing. Don’t spent valuable writing time looking for stuff. You can make a digital story box or tactile one, using an actual box. I like a digital box. I use Evernote because I’ll have everything I need wherever my research physically takes me. I can access it from my laptop, ipad or iphone and it’s cloud storage so there is no worry of losing it to a computer crash. Now as I begin my local and social history research anything I learn will also be included in my Evernote binder. In this Evernote Binder, I’ve also included my local and social history research checklist. If you don’t know how to make a research checklist in Evernote, you can check out my video below.

7. Create a Research Calendar

Once you’ve identified your research topics, you’ll want to consider how you are going to proceed with your research. The more organised and planned you are the more productive your research time will be. Schedule your research days on a calendar regardless of whether they are online or in an archive. How much time per day do you plan to spend doing this research? Set yourself a deadline to complete your research with realistic expectations. Without a deadline, you’ll research forever.

I’ve determined I’m starting with the Perth/Stratford Archives. I’ve sent off an email letter to them letting them know the day I am coming and what I will be looking for on that day.

8. Organise by Priority

My research plan is arranged by priority; what I feel is most relevant to the story –where I want to start. My first focus will be on creating a map of Stratford in 1847 and locating the list of businesses and homes that I’ve identified. Hopefully, I will also come up with some general information, description or even a photograph for these places. This will help me to describe them in my story. I’m dealing with a very early time so photographs will be a long shot but some of the businesses may still have existed later, or an advertisement in a Gazetteer might exist to help get a perspective on the business.

I’m also going to start my research with the political climate in Stratford and Perth area at the time. It’s an essential element to my story. In my Google search, I’ve discovered that the Stratford Archives holds the council minutes for North Easthope (this is the township my ancestor lived in on the outskirts of Stratford). The council minutes begin in 1843 so I’m going to start there and well as many other resources that may help me with my list. You will also note that I’ve identified on my research checklist a list of books that may offer some insights into the local and social history of the time. I’ll keep an eye out for these in each archive I visit.

Keep in mind as you begin your research that your plan may change as more information and resources may open up to you and others may fall away because they just aren’t available. Remain flexible. However, a plan remains essential to identifying the research you need to help you bring that story to life on the page and keep you focused and on track.

Next: Reaching out to the Archives and the First Visit.

Did you miss our first post in our series My Summer of Setting and Social History? World Building

Enriching Your Story with HistoryEnriching Your Story with History

March 8, 2015| Lynn| 0 Comment| 3:09 am

In the Getting Ready to Write and Authentic Ancestors workbooks, I mentioned historical timelines and their importance in organizing your research and writing your ancestor’s stories. Not only is it important to map your ancestor’s life on a timeline, but also to map world, regional and local history. It’s necessary to consider what was happening in the world around your ancestors and it’s relationship to their life.

I want to spend a few minutes today discussing how we can use historical events to enrich your stories.

Historical events can provide both a background and a setting for your story. However, while these events can add a lot of colour and depth to your story, it’s important to not just insert a historical event in your ancestor’s narrative only because it happened during their life. It’s important to look at how those events may have impacted your ancestor’s life, actions, and reactions. While some events will be easy to include due to your ancestor’s direct relationship to an event, do not discount an event because it did not happen directly to them. It may be happening in the background and influencing their life.

These historical events can happen before, after or during the story. It may be something from the past that sets in motion a current event in your story. Historical events can add richness to your story and can place your ancestor’s life and story within the context of the world. It can also help to establish the tone of your story for your reader. By linking your ancestor’s story to something happening or that has happened, this event may impact them or people around them. It’s important to consider how the event may change their feelings, attitudes, culture, or society.

These historical events may strengthen your story ideas and feed your ancestor’s stories. Perhaps your ancestor’s story will be a political or social statement about abortion, adoption, slavery, corruption in politics or the environment to name but a few. You can look to historical events to help you build your story ideas and theme.

An excellent resource for looking at events in a variety of categories is The Timetables of History by Bernard Grun. This book is organized into seven categories, history and politics, literature and theatre, religion, philosophy and learning, visual arts, music, science, technology and growth, and daily life. It spans from 5000BC up to 1991 and is organized on a year by year basis.

I’ve also provided you with a small chart below for you to download and use if looking at the historical events of your ancestor’s life and analyzing them for the impact on their lives. Completing this chart might help you to shape your story with regards to plot, theme, and your story question.

Don’t limit yourself to just the large world events. Regional and local historical events must also be considered. We often think wars and national tragedies when discussing historical events. However, a local storm that causes devastation to area crops or local politics may play a significant role in your ancestor’s life and decisions.

Historical events provide context and richness to your story, and it places our ancestor in the world making them more real and believable to your reader.

Here’s the timeline with a couple of examples filled in.

Timeline Table

Timeline Table – blank

Setting as Character – 10 Research TipsSetting as Character – 10 Research Tips

August 15, 2017| Lynn| 5 Comments| 11:55 pm

When beginning any family history story, we look carefully at our ancestors as we attempt to understand and describe them for our reader. We develop an ancestor profile of them drawing details out of our research so that we can bring the most authentic ancestor to the page for our readers.

The same can be said for the setting of our family history story. The setting can be a character in our story. If we treat the setting like a character, we are more likely to bring that setting to life for your reader in a big way, in a way that adds to the story. However, before that can happen, we must complete some in-depth research.

Authentic Ancestors 2

It’s important to take the time to get to know your ancestor’s world. It’s not enough just to know the year and location of your story. We need to know details about the setting to bring the personality of the setting to the page. If there are several settings in your story, then it’s necessary to give this in-depth attention to all of them. Our goal is to be able to give the story setting a heart and soul, and for the writer to be able to show how the characters in our story are influenced by the setting.

When we take the time upfront to create not just a setting but an atmosphere we accomplish two things: first the reader will feel connected to your story; and second, the setting and your ancestor will feel more real, authentic, and understood through the descriptions and details of their surroundings.

The setting can also have a significant influence on your ancestor and their backstory. Was the setting a friend or foe to your ancestor? Did it change their behaviour and choices?

The setting comes alive partly in its details and partly in the way that our ancestor experiences and interacts with their surroundings and what is going on around them. Together they deliver a sense of place.

When we head out to research the setting of our family history story, consider the following 10 tips to better recreate the most specific and telling setting in our story.

No. 1

Look for the essential features of the location as you begin your research. The obvious physical attributes of the place, amenities, landmarks, gathering spots, etc. The more specific the details the more authentic the story feels.

No. 2

Keep your eyes open for major and concrete and specific details of the houses, the roads, the weather.

No.3

Look for what is remarkable about the setting and what is not in the surroundings. Are there things that are common place to the setting and yet other things that stand out and not common. It is the uncommon features that make the setting unique and memorable.

No. 4

Consider the history of the setting and how its back story may have influenced its current personality. Just like characters in a story, settings can have a back story, a history that occurred before your ancestor arrived. That history may strongly influence its personality and behaviour.

No. 5

Who are the major personalities in the setting? Whether your setting is a town, street, etc. there are often major personalities who inflict their thoughts and ideas on to the setting. How do they contribute to its history and how the town thinks and acts? In my story, there are two major town personalities who conflict to be the town leader and major influence. The personalities in the setting can greatly infect your ancestor’s thinking.

No. 6

Consider the local culture. What cultures make up this setting how are they reflected in the environment. What flavour and uniqueness do they bring to the setting. How do we see, hear, smell, touch and taste these cultures in our setting? Where does your ancestor stand within the cultural context of the setting? For example, the culture of my setting includes Irish, Scots and Germans.

No. 7

Is there a socioeconomic divide within your setting? How and why? Where does your ancestor stand within that divide? Are they on the right-side or wrong-side of the tracks?

No. 8

What is the political makeup of the setting and where does your ancestor position himself within that framework? For example, in my current story, there is a clear political divide between the Irish Protestant and the Irish Catholics. An age-old conflict carried over from the old country.

No. 9

It can’t be overstated the importance of specificity in your setting. Look for specific names and details of the setting. Use street names of local businesses that exist in that area. For instance, my ancestor visits a general story on a regular basis. Don’t just call it the general store. What is the name of the store, who operates it, what sits in its front window? What types of items would be in this store at this time? What would my ancestor have bought there? The more specific the details, the more realistic your story becomes.

No. 10

Consider the location of your setting—weather, climate, geography, topography. Does this place create physical conflicts for your ancestor? For instance, the roads in my ancestor’s story present a challenge for my ancestors. As well, the town is built on swamp land so mosquitos present a challenge as does stepping outside your door and being met with wolves. On the plus side, the deer are plentiful. These are all important to our ancestor’s day to day challenges and how they interact with their setting and how their surroundings influence them. Does the weather, geography or topography of the setting make your ancestor’s life easier or harder?

Research your setting with the same care and detail you research your ancestor. Find the personality of the setting. How does this setting influence both to you as a writer and to your ancestor?What is the meaning of the setting? This meaning may become significant in how you portray the setting in your story, as an ally or antagonist and may offer some help in developing your theme. You also will want to consider how your ancestor’s position within the setting and local community affects their evolution and journey throughout the story?