A question for the group...

I've been lurking on the group for some time and appreciate the discussion.
I'm at the stage of collecting the family oral tradition. NO written proof
for 99% just yet. (I'm afraid that project will have to await my
retirement.) I've just considered that if I don't get down the oral
tradition while elderly relatives are still alive, the academic research
will be that much harder after they are gone.

Lesley Robertson...

The most important other thing to do is to get copies of any available
family photos and get them labelled with names and dates - I found that
making a photocopy or printing a scan with a wide margin that people could
write in helped, but I have STILL inherited 2 (seperately) collections of
photos that are either unlabelled or are labelled with things like "me and
John on leave". Also ask family members they have copies of BMD certificates
and if you can copy them - that'll save you money and give useful info as
well.
Lesley Robertson

Thanks to everyone for your ongoing advice.

Joe Roberts...

Eagle...

Of course Dreamland in Tuscaloosa is famous especially among sports
announcers. We have an annual BBQ festival here (the BBQ capital of
the world) that draws about 80,000 people on Sat and Sun. It's so
crowded downtown you have to go out of town to eat.

Helen Castle...

I watched a program once about the the Worlds Best Baseball Stadiums - there
were particular specialisations - hot dogs, ribs, entertainment, fixtures -
however the range was limited to USA - because as we know very few other
countries in the world have baseball stadiums - I know there must be a few -
Japan for instance - but the entrants were limited to USA.

It's a bit like the World Series - it is limited to USA - no one else
plays!!

Everyone knows Australia is the BBQ capital of the world - ask Hoges (aka
Crocodile Dundee)

(diving for cover)
Helen Castle
Narangba Qld Australia

Eagle...

Where is Australia in case I need to go out for BBQ?

(Is there room under that cover for me)
Hugh

melsonr...

I'd say it's the self-described BBQ capital of the world - everybody
knows that Southern US BBQ, with its thin, watery sauce and "pulled"
meats can't hold a candle to gen-u-wine Texas mesquite BBQ, where the
meat is smoked and slowly cooked over mesquite coals for no less
than 24 hours.

Actually, much depends on your definition of BBQ - shaky ground at
best.

Never had Aussie BBQ, so can't comment on _that_, save to opine that
anything that'd tenderize croc or 'roo can't be all bad.

Smokin' Ol' Bob

Eagle...

I go to Plano a cupla times a year and we have BBQ at least once. It's
good BUT, my son has lived there for about 20 years and they want me
to bring BBQ from here when I head down. And they favor the SECOND
best BBQ place here.

The military does a lot of touch-and-goes around the country. They
land here and a van picks them up and takes the crew to Moonlight BBQ.
When working I had bankers from Japan, France, Switzerland and Germany
visit and all had heard of Moonlight and wanted to take me to eat
there.

John,

You've gotten some good advice already about how to structure your work.
Here's one more. It's in as passionate terms as possible.

If you have living relatives, get them to talk. Talk, talk, talk. Yep,
talk and talk some more. Nothing is redundant -- something new will come
out. Perhaps a trivial-sounding reminiscence or 'afterthought' will bear
fruit for someone's research down the road.

My brother just recently met an elderly woman (who's in her 90's) who was a
close friend of our mother and aunt. She still lives on the same street, in
the same neighborhood, where our last two generations lived. There's
everything from being school chums to tennis, to shopping, to what life was
like. That's got to include how they met their boyfriends who eventually
became husbands (even including the ones who didn't make the grade). One
can only guess what stories she can tell. That's besides any photo albums
and letters she might have set aside.

This is just an example, of course. Not much time left. Mom and our aunt
(her sister) are gone. This elderly friend is all who is left.

If you have living folks like that, get to them first. Get 'em to talk
before it's too late. The existing documentary record, the paper stuff, is
only part of the heritage. Don't lose the human insights.

Hoping it helps.

Eagle...

There is a peripheral benefit to this. When you go back to your
ancestors old stomping grounds you really get to enjoy talking with
some great old folks and they love to talk about old times.

My grandfather had 51 grandchildren and 20 are still living. I found
every one and wrote a newsletter. You would have thought I won the war
they appreciated it so much.

John S. Kennedy

Eagle...

Some of us have been doing this for years yet I always wonder if I'm
doing it the best way. The best way is frequently in the eye of the
beholder and how it fits his particular case.

Even if oral don't forget to show the source of your info - it's
beneficial in many ways. And once you are retired sourcing keeps you
from reading the same book over and over again because you forgot..
8-)

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Denis Beauregard...

I use something more or less similar.

My system is roughly a set of Excel files and I wrote all the software
to check and convert to Web format. I always use & as a comment, i.e.
I could have a place like "France & speculative" and it would display
only France.

I defined a few special comments for places. 3 libraries I want to
check have as codes &BO, &SG and &ANQ so I wrote a batch file that
look for those codes and isolate the lines into files for visiting
each library. I will eventually have a column for searches, i.e.
medieval data and people expected in a given area. That way, I can
check the various books now available on books.web-search.com for a
specific search.

I can either open directly the file and check my special comments or
copy the relevant lines to a special file and put that file in my
laptop.