What Might Happen at the Historian's Family in 2012

It's early January and I, not unlike most people at this time of the year, am full of ideas and ambition about what can be accomplished in the upcoming year. At the top of the list is devoting more attention to The Historian's Family by blogging more about history and my search for ancestors. Of course, the latter is dependent upon my actually doing some research; but, fear not, I have a plan.

History, the academy and genealogy: At the close of 2011 a member of the APG posed a few interesting questions (I must admit I don't even remember what they were) and the responses and ensuing conversation totally exploded - like an algae bloom or supernova - into several different threads and topics. The deluge of messages streaming into my inbox had three major themes: the future of the APG, professional v. amateur, and genealogy's relationship to the academy. While the first two topics were interesting (and I do have some thoughts on the pro v. amateur debate), I was inspired by the genealogy v. academic thread. I was reminded that of the missions of both my blogs: to bridge the gap between professional and armchair historians. To this end, I had even proposed a lecture to NGS entitled "Looking at the Ivory Tower: Understanding and Using Academic History." Like so many lecture proposals, this one too was "rejected, refused, rebuffed, and repudiated" (to quote my favorite line from Gigi). In the midst of the APG debate, it occurred to me that I can blog about this topic here instead. In 2012 look for posts on how academic history "works", how it has changed in the past 50 years, ways in which academics use genealogy, and more.

Swedish Ancestors: For most of my life I have been very uninterested in my Scandinavian ancestors. For better or worse I have been "angry" with all of Scandinavia because my great-grandparents, Carl Nordstrom and Magdalena Larsen, both died when my grandmother was a teenager. Additionally, while my mom was growing up it was the Scottish side of her ancestry that was stressed. This continued during my childhood, with the exception of my grandmother's Norwegian baking (mmmmm... cardamon). For some reason, my attitude over the past year has changed. Perhaps because Troll beads are so trendy, because I've been stalked by Sweden, or maybe because of the blog. To be sure I get something done, I signed up for a three month subscription to ArkivDigital. The clock is ticking ....

52 Weeks of Personal Genealogy & Family History: There were many prompts in this series that I did want to post about. I even have drafts for two of them. But I just never did anything about it. So, maybe I'll do some of them this year.

Birthdays: I also have this idea about posting biographies/snippets about ancestors on their birthdays. On the other hand, reading about other people's ancestor's can (but not necessarily) be quite boring. Then again, I have pictures of many of them, so it could be quite neat. Realistically, however, this might just be too much and send me over the edge of the blogosphere.

Who knows what else will turn up in the ensuing year? Who knows, if I'll even accomplish what I've set out here? Stay tuned for further developments...