Where does one find Familia to read your article? Thank you. On Wed, Apr 7, 2010 at 5:41 AM, DIB <[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 > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the > quotes in the subject and the body of the message >