On Saturday, I heard four talks by Shirley Riemer, the author of the book, " The German Research Companion ," from which excerpts were given here in past notes. In one of her talks, she expressed her concerns about genealogy research in the middle of the twenty-first century.
First : It is going to be much harder to identify the lineages between people. In the past, we have relied on the practice that sons and daughters have the name of their father. The hyphenated names, the continued use of a mother's maiden name, reversion to earlier names, adoption of children, and changes of names, will make identity much harder. At the very extreme of this question, where will the experiments with DNA lead us?
Second : Over the meadows and through the woods to grandmother's house does not mean what it use to. Now, the elements of families are not to be found in the same neighborhood or even the same state. (A personal note: our three children were born in three different states, New Jersey, New York, and California, and this is only a mild case.)
Third : Technology has become a fad, especially in the sense of a temporary appearance. Who has a turn table, a tape recorder, a computer that can read 5 ½ inch disks, or an operating system or programs that can allow old records to be read? Technology becomes obsolete as fast as newer technologies are introduced. Who will be able to read your 25,000 name GEDCOM? Who will keep your records converted to the current fashion?
Fourth : Are magnetic records really permanent? Are color photos really permanent? The solution with the best proven history is good acid free paper and black and white photos. Even though with computers we generate more paper than ever before, who saves the paper? But, is the record on which we rely really permanent?
German research is getting harder because of the lack of education in the German language. Even in Germany, the ability to read the old script is being lost. For fifty years now, we in the US have relied on native born Germans living here to help us with questions related to Germany. But fewer of these people are opting to live in the US. One implication is that our grandchildren will work on their non-German ancestors who are easier to understand.
Though the Internet has apparently made research easier, is it a boon or is it a Trojan horse? Is it destroying quality while promoting conflicting quantity? Have our standards been lowered? Are we creating trash?
Ms. Riemer's recommendations are that we concentrate now on German research, and that we save our research in two principal forms, ink on acid-free paper, and as black and white photographs.
We gratefully acknowledge the work of John Blankenbaker who published over 2,500 Germanna History Notes via the Germanna-L@rootsweb.com email list from 1997 to 2008. We are equally thankful to George Durman (Sgt. George) for hosting the list and republishing the notes via rootsweb.com.