The Care and Feeding of a Newborn in 1945
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Corn syrup? Egg yolks? These fascinating doctor’s instructions fall way short of how we feed babies — not to mention ourselves — today. Continue reading
Author Archives: Tammy Hepps
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Traces
The stories we reconstruct for our ancestors’ lives are our attempts to make sense of scarce information. But chance discoveries can bring moments of painful clarity. Continue reading
How We Remember a Life
Eleven years ago today I lived through history. One day that may be what is remembered most about me. Continue reading
A Tale of Two States
Different state archives handle customer service in different ways. NJ’s archivist is my new best friend; the PA people have reduced me to tears more than once. Continue reading
When Genealogy Severed My Great-Grandfather’s Pinky
Caveat investigator! Sometimes records aren’t what they seem. Continue reading
The Twenty-Year Time Capsule
Opening a time capsule recently made me think about why we choose to remember what we do. Continue reading
The 1940 Census and My Great-Grandma… Jillie?
Ancestry’s 1940 census index may have errors because they outsourced it, but the cultural mismatch between indexers and ancestors is a much broader problem. Continue reading
My DNA Saved a Life
The same cheek swab we use to uncover our origins connected me to a little boy who needed my stem cells to live. A year ago this week I donated them to him. Continue reading
Your Lifetime Genealogy Goals: Breadth or Depth?
Tell us: Do you focus your research on small areas of your family, or do you aim for the broadest possible understanding of your roots? Continue reading
Who Replaced My Book?
A technological revolution changes the format of books, and adherents to the old way wail that reading will never be the same. This happened two millennia ago. Continue reading