Forecasting: A Growing Interest in History

The purpose of this blog is to set up a mechanism so I can say: "I told you so" in the future. I believe an important mile marker is before us that will be of benefit to history-related focuses in the future.

A new show airs on NBC Mar 5, 2010 that I believe will be important. The one thing the show does is to personalize history in a way that is key to drawing in the interest of many people. The potential for drawing in younger people is especially important.

• New Series: Who Do You Think You Are?
• Airs: Friday, Mar 5 on NBC at 8 pm (7 central time)

In the first episode, Sarah Jessica Parker discovers an ancestor accused of witchcraft during the Salem Witch Trails. The show takes a personal look into the family stories of seven celebrities, while helping people everywhere understand what they could discover about their own family history.

Significance of the Series:
I believe that interest in history is growing and is actually beginning to capture the interest of younger people. More easily available resources are finally beginning to make the past relevant to who we are on a personal level.

For example, the moment I learned that one of my direct Burr ancestors was a Puritan who came to America on a boat in John Winthrop's historic fleet that landed near Boston on June 12, 1630, I suddenly found myself interested in my own history and the history that surrounded that event. After all the dull history classes that were totally impersonal with dates and places that meant nothing to me, I suddenly found myself totally (perhaps obsessively) interested when I became aware that DNA coursing through my veins was present at some of those places and in some of those dates. When I first stood in the ca. 1751 oldest wood frame house in the state of West Virginia and realized that the person who laid the floors, built the fireplace, and provided detailed finishing touches to that old house did in fact have my DNA in the veins of his hands, then hairs on the back of my neck stood on end and I connected to history in a way I never before dreamed possible. And I am not different from others. I have already heard too many other people use the same description of hairs on the back of their necks standing on end in similar situations. Those upright hairs are an indicator that engagement with history has occurred.

As much as I am able to find fault with Ancestry.com, Bill Gates and Windows, the fact remains: in the larger scheme of things, Ancestry.com is going to be to history as Bill Gates and Windows was to computer compatibility and networking. Genealogy (personal family history) is going to do for history what Windows did for computing: bring it down to a personal level easily accessible to average people.

I believe that the wise among us will recognize this occurrence as an opportunity for opening new doors in history focuses and turning around old embedded obstacles.

While I do not have a membership with Ancestry.com and have no stock in that organization or NBC television, I believe that the new series will be a useful tool.

• Do I care whether or not you watch the show? No.
• Do I care whether or not the show airs? Yes

I believe the marketing plans behind this show are brilliant. While the show will certainly send people to Ancestry.com in search of their own family history, it will also (in the long-range) benefit every organization with a focus on history. I am certain it will capture a younger generation of data-seeking individuals that eventually could become a part of a new wave of interest in history in many different ways.

I believe that history-focused organizations would be foolish to fail to embrace and plan upon this predictable phenomenon. To those who can read handwriting on the wall, my advise is to be ready.

What does all this mean to us at Reliving History, Inc?
The Peter Burr House has stood for 258 years, primarily in an open field where it in these later days has been of little notice. As a lone structure in a field surrounded by industrial development it is currently of less value to some than the land it sits on. This historic site, like many others, must become more valued if they are to continue standing. That value will be in the eyes of the general public who must come to a place of personally caring about these properties.

The word "personal" has significant meaning in the prospects of raising interest in history. The way to raise interest in historic sites and historic focuses is to engage the "personal" connection to history. Genealogy an important path to personal connection to history.

Another word and phrase also have significant meaning: "networking" for "setting a historic backdrop" is important. As we network with other organizations to "set a historic backdrop" then the Peter Burr House becomes less of a lone structure in a remote field and more of a key part of the extremely valuable larger picture.

Without going into any further detail on these subjects, I've defined personal connection to history (via genealogy) and networking (working together) to set historic backdrops as key elements for helping to utilize and further grow the on-coming interest in history.

Years from now, after we have followed a planned path, I want to be able to look back to this particular post and playfully (but for the record also) say: I told you so.

Joyce Cole
Reliving History, Inc.
Visit our website:
www.RelivingHistoryInc.org