Our History Matters – Finding and Telling Family Stories

As many writers have suggested, if we don’t know our history, we are likely to repeat it. Barbara Tuchman adds that the way to teach history is through stories. We will explore ways to tell our stories using illustrations of methods, sources, and resources from research about my British family during World War II as well as stories students share. In each class, we will explore ways to research our family stories using multiple paths and methods, including discussion of brief presentations by the instructor, in-class practice in varying strategies for research, and analysis of documents and other sources. Students will adapt these to telling a portion of their own family history in any period. In addition, there will be suggestions for voluntary work outside of class leading to a draft of a family story.  For more information, please visit www.barbaralawrence.com.

There will be no required materials for this class, however, a suggested reading list will be included in the syllabus.

Barbara Kent Lawrence is the author of nine books and taught research methods, introduction to sociology, and writing at Northeastern and Lesley Universities.