"A Brief History of the Future"

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    Assyrian clay tablet of proverbs from the Library of Ashurbanipal, Kouyunjik, Iraq.
The British Museum, London. CC BY-NC-SA 4.0


After watching the final episode of "A Brief History of the Future" on PBS, I recommend everyone watch it. We are surrounded by rapid change, and it can get scary sometimes. This long-form documentary is full of inspiring or even fun examples of people working together to create the world they want to see, in their own corner of the world. 

It is an extended look at what It means to be human, which is to say to work in community, thinking together, figuring out how to make change work for all of us. PBS.org says, “A Brief History of the Future,” [is] a unique PBS documentary series hosted by renowned futurist Ari Wallach. Ari unites perspectives from different fields, professions, geographic locations and walks of life to explore “being human.” From art to architecture, there are plenty of ways to think about our shared humanity and what that means for the future we’re building together."


The final section of the series is about becoming a good ancestor. I think many of us genealogists think about our legacy as getting our stories written and out to our families, and where our books, files and heirlooms will go. 


Cathedral Thinking

Justin Kern: Sainte-Chapelle, January 2018
CC BY-NC-ND 2.0 DEED

We need to think on a larger scale! What is the future of history and genealogy as a practice? Are we supporting our libraries, archives, courthouses and other repositories? Are we reaching out to our churches, funeral homes, fraternal, heritage and other organizations to which we belong to see what their record practices are, and if they are archiving in a responsible and accessible way? 

If they are local, perhaps we can help connect them to archivists who want their collections. 


Doing Our Part: Our Mission

Are we encouraging our genealogy societies and other groups to collaborate with one another? The rising generation is not interacting with groups the same way we did, or our parents did. Clubs and societies of all sorts are disappearing; so let us  find common ground and meet the new realities together. 

We're all humans, and humans in general like to work on goals larger than ourselves. As we focus on our mission, we will find support, whether or not people want to pay dues. Donating their time and treasure in support is a valuable way to support groups. 

As we focus on our mission, that is: what is the future we want to create together? we will perhaps drop some aspects of our society that are familiar and seem necessary. Before 2020, it seemed obvious to all of us that we had to meet in person. Now we know that meeting virtually is not only possible, in many ways it extends our reach and effectiveness. What else should we re-imagine?

After watching this documentary, I saved each episode and plan on watching it again, to stir more ideas. 

The future is bright, and we are the ones who will make it happen together.


Send your stories to m.strickland@skcgs.org

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Valorie Zimmerman


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