Genealogy? Really?

Who Do You Think You Are? Genealogy Roadshow. Finding Your Roots. These are just three examples of the most recent trend in television: genealogy research. While I can tell you that the shows make genealogy look much easier than it is, it's easy to see that they are part of a new resurgence of interest in the hobby of genealogy. It's true that much of genealogy research can be done online nowadays (FamilySearch, Ancestry.com, and I are best friends). Yet so much of our nation's history remains in the boxes and on the shelves of archives and libraries- and people are starting to rediscover them in their search for family history. Thanks to genealogy, people who would usually never step foot in an archives are donning white gloves and poring over manuscripts to find that elusive ancestor. Genealogy is bringing them in, which is something that should be embraced by the archival community. However, it seems that archivists and genealogists have a bit of an ambivalent relationship, a fact I have witnessed in class, at work, and among genealogists. I believe it's essential that archivists understand their genealogy patrons and how they research, in order to better serve them and improve the relationship between the genealogist and the archivist.

Part of the problem is that genealogists often don't understand the archives and libraries in which they research, nor do the archivists and librarians always understand how the genealogist conducts his/her research. Genealogists have a different agenda than other researchers. They are less interested in working at the collection level than at the item level, and websites like Ancestry.com and FamilySearch have changed the way they research. Library catalogs and archival finding aids are unfamiliar to these researchers, who expect everything to be "name-searchable." I constantly have patrons asking me why our collections do not contain name indexes. ("Um, do YOU want to do it?" is what I want to say.) As one article title states, a genealogist is really only concerned with "the list with all the names." And they often expect it to be accessible with the punch of a few buttons. Nor do genealogists really understand how archives function, or why. At a genealogy conference I attended last year, the room erupted in laughs when the speaker mimicked the archivist who watched him like a hawk to make sure he was only opening one box at a time. (That one broke my heart.) I have had to argue with patrons who don't understand why they can't bring in their coffee or cannot copy the old book with the cracked binding. I've been talked down to by genealogists who think they know more about my job than I do. For these reasons, I feel archivists have less respect for genealogy patrons than for their "serious" researchers. But the funny thing is that genealogists and archivists actually have a lot in common. We both believe in the importance of preserving the past for future generations and we are both passionate about history. We both love the smell of old paper and get thrills from opening a new box of records. We both get excited over things that happened hundreds of years ago. Underneath it all, we are exactly the same.

So how can we get the two sides to realize they're actually batting for the same team? I think communication is the key. Many patrons have come around to my way of thinking when I explain why there are restrictions on certain items or why there is no index for that particular collection, and they are much more willing to go along with the rules if they understand them. With understanding, genealogists can become an archives' greatest advocates. In addition, I think archivists should work to familiarize themselves with the basics of genealogy research, in order to better understand their patron base. ArchivesNext posted a line once (mostly in jest. I hope.) that read, "No, being an archivist doesn’t mean I specialize in genealogy." Well, maybe it should. Since genealogy is growing as a hobby and since it brings people to our door, maybe it's time for archivists to focus more on what this "genealogy thing" is. Because I also do genealogy, I have a better perspective of what my patrons are looking for and how best to make our collections accessible to them. (Secret: genealogy is actually a lot of fun!) But you don't have to do your own genealogy to make it part of your education. Some of the things I do to stay current in the genealogy field includes reaching out to genealogy groups, listening to genealogy podcasts, and reading blogs and magazine articles. As future archivists, it's important that we understand who our patrons will be and learn how best to work with them. Since genealogy is growing in popularity, we will see more and more genealogists walking through our doors and using our collections. As archivists, we should make it a priority to understand what they need and educate them on how our institutions work. With give-and-take and mutual communication, archivists and genealogists could become quite a force to reckon with.