Motivation Monday: Digital Storytelling

I am back in the home office, after an amazing workshop by the Center for Digital Storytelling at Stonebridge Farm in Lyons, Colorado.

I went into the workshop with an idea to expand on the story of my great-uncle Emmett, a story I started on Memorial Day, but have learned a lot more about since then.  I'll tell you more about it next post.

But the facilitators at the workshop encouraging me to really examine my research motivations, and construct my story around those motivations.  This is a different way of looking at family history, and while I wouldn't want it to be my only technique, I think that it's a valuable and interesting component of genealogy and history work.

One of my central missions in Genealogy Imaginings  is to get to the stories behind the documents.  While I love the documents themselves, I recognize that not everyone is fascinated by land deeds and wills.  Generally, it is story that connects people, not paper.  So I've always tried to find - or imagine - the stories.  From my first blog entry, about the headstone for Darling Davis, there's been a lot of speculation in my blog approach, though I have other areas where I am more rigorous about my research and facts. 

The Center for Digital Storytelling took me to the next level, and I am very glad they did.  I think it's valuable to look, as a researcher, at what motivates you to follow one thread over another, or to trace one storyline more than another.  Behind those motivations could be some really interesting things about yourself, your family, and your connections to them.

Here is the story I ended up telling.