"Posterity" by Dorie McCullough Lawson -- An Inspiration and Resource for All Genealogists (February 27, 2014)

From time to time I have used this space to recommend an article or book that I believe is of particular interest to those of us involved in genealogy and who are also interested in history.  [Can the two interests actually be separate in any real sense though??] 

This past Christmas our younger son's girlfriend very kindly gifted me with the book Posterity by Dorie McCullough Lawson, the daughter of David McCullough -- noted historian and author of The Path Between the Seas; Truman; and John Adams among other works. [Thank you again Beth!]

The subtitle of this very interesting book says it all -- "Letters of Great Americans to Their Children." Since those of us who actively pursue and record our genealogies, and/or blog about our family histories, are engaged in communicating with our posterity, this book gives us insight into the same interest and efforts by noted Americans across more than three centuries. From Anne Bradstreet's 1664 letter to her son Simon, to George Herbert Walker Bush's letter to his children in 1998, this book presents us with letters to posterity categorized by Dorie McC. Lawson into content areas designated as Continuity; The Developing Mind; Love; Good Work; Struggle; Strength of Character; The Pleasures of Life; Brace-Up; A Place in Time; Loss; Aging; and Rules to Live By.  

In the Forward to Posterity, David McCullough writes pointedly, perceptively, and perhaps presciently . . . "That so few of us write to our children any longer, that we so rarely write personal letters of any sort, is a shame. I think often of how little we will leave about ourselves and our time in our own words. Maybe some of the e-mail will survive, but I doubt it. How will future generations ever come to know us? Historians and biographers [and I would add genealogists] a hundred or three hundred years hence will have almost nothing of a personal kind to work with. Our story, consequently , will be a lot less interesting, less human, perhaps even impossible to write." 

This book is a smorgasbord of genealogical subject matter that can be explored and sampled at leisure. I highly recommend it as not just a good read, but as an inspirational resource that I think should be an addition to every genealogist's library!

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As a special note to my blogging friend Barbara Poole of Life From The Roots blog -- who wrote recently about her encounter with famous photographer Ansel Adams, http://lifefromtheroots.blogspot.com/2014/02/happy-birthday-ansel-adams.html -- Posterity presents us with a letter by Ansel to his son Michael written from Yosemite National Park on Christmas Day 1953 as his son joined the Air Force while the Korean War was underway.

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Scan of the Posterity dust jacket from the personal copy of this blog author. 

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Copyright 2014, John D. Tew

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