we hope yours was as well.
Looking forward to 2011, I am planning a several talks: two in Raleigh, NC, at the North Carolina Genealogical Society Speakers Forum on February 19th, and three in Charleston, SC, at the National Genealogical Society Conference between 11–14 May.
These along with trips to Salt Lake City in February (for a Board Meeting of the NGS) and to the FGS Conference in Springfield, IL in September, promise to make it a busy genealogy year.
2011 will also bring with it another season of Executive Producer Lisa Kudrow’s “Who Do you Think You Are?”, which starts again on February 4th at 8 (7 Central). According to the Associated Press, the new season will include Tim McGraw, Kim Cattrall, Lionel Richie, Ashley Judd, Steve Buscemi, Vanessa Williams, and Rosie O’Donnell.
The show has been a mixed blessing for genealogists. While it has clearly popularized family history research, and shown the transformative nature of genealogical revelation. The painstaking and time-consuming research required to unearth many of these revelations is done off camera, and most viewers are simply unaware how much research is involved. A simple title card stating that “x number of hours of genealogical research went into producing this episode,” would provide the audience with necessary context. Many researchers have received phone calls in the days and weeks after an episode of WDYTYA? asking for “my family tree” to be created either gratis, pronto, or both.
Still, it is a compelling show, and my family and I are looking forward to the new episodes.
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