Linde, Those are excellent points. It has certainly been my experience - people in NI are learning a lot from me about their past and I am learning a lot from them. It is definitely a two way street. Sharon Sharon Oddie Brown Roberts Creek, BC, Canada History Project: http://www.thesilverbowl.com/ Some Become Flowers: http://www.harbourpublishing.com/title/SomeBecomeFlowers Family Tree: http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?db=silverbowl On 08/04/2010 12:00 AM, [email protected] wrote: > Dear Anne and others > > I think N.I. is beginning to wake up to the possibility of genealogy > tourism; I think gradually archives and libraries are noticing that > their role has changed; that they are not just protecting material > but should be actively involved in letting people access it; and all > worldwide people and not just NI taxpayers, as has sometimes been the > mindset. > > I think your idea is very useful; for people coming from abroad back > to Ulster, to help descendants connect in a meaningful way with > ancestors and an ancestral place; I am sure that everyone on this > list, in America, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, etc, will see that > potential in a research trip, rather than just concentrating on > hoovering up birthdates to put into a database on the laptop. > > However, I think in one sense people coming to co. Antrim, is only > half of what really needs to be done; Ulster people need to > understand the value to them in a personal and historical way, not > just financially, of genealogy tourism. I am continually trying to > promote this idea (see my article in the latest Familia). Ulster lost > hundreds of thousands, if not millions of Ulster people; that was our > loss; our families were pulled apart. Who knows what the traumas > were; and the losses and traumas have been largely scarred over and > forgotten. If descendants from America, Canada... make the effort to > do historical research, and the even bigger effort to come back to > Ballymoney or Ballymena, that can help people in NI, even if not > themselves very interested in genealogy, begin to understand/ > remember. > > So I would say, don't just promote this idea to the international > community; make sure that you get the message out to NI media, so > that a very wide audience in the province can begin to see that > genealogy is not just an American/ Canadian/ etc hobby, but that it > could enable connections to be made that can acknowledge Ulster's > loss over the centuries. > > It would be worth contacting the ULster Scots Agency; for suggestions > and moral support and help with promotion, if not for a grant. > > Remember PRONI is going to be closed from this autumn > > Keep us informed! I'll be glad to help if I can, though I'm not from > Ballymena, and not especially well acquent there > > Linde Lunney > > > ------------------------------ > >