Saturday Serendipity (December 27, 2014)

The Prism was on a bit of an unannounced hiatus this week due to the Christmas holiday and the visit of our sons, daughter-in-law and our new granddaughter (who spent her first Christmas with us). This week there are only a very few recommendations for inclusion on your weekend reading list. 

1.  Holidays that are traditionally times for generations of family to come together are a good time to learn about efforts to encourage a sense of family history.  NEHGS brought two such items to our attention this week and both are worth a read. St. Louis Public Radio ran a piece about the Grannie Annie Family Story Celebration, which you can read about at the immediately preceding link. The Public Radio piece itself can be read and listened to here.   

2.  A creative and interesting assignment for high school journalism students was the subject of the second family history item brought to us this week by the NEHGS Weekly Genealogist newsletter. Students at H. Grady Spruce High School in East Dallas, Texas were assigned the task of interviewing family members and then turning the memories they discovered into news stories. Many of the students interviewed immigrant parents and grandparents and learned for the first time about family stories and history they never knew about. You can read more about this project here.    

3.  The Vault had a nice post this past week showing a collection of handmade Christmas cards sent home by soldiers in WWI. The cards were embroidered using silk floss.  Many of the soldiers made the cards during their downtime, but others are from local women in the France and Belgium who used the manufacture of the cards as a means of earning money while displaced from their homes during the war. Have a look at several of these colorful cards here.       

4.  The Legal Genealogist, Judy Russell, had an interesting post yesterday about the status of Christmas as a recognized, official, "legal" holiday in these United States. Have a read here.     

Happy New Year to all readers of The Prism, which turns two years old this New Years Eve!  

Nora -- At Peace With Grandma and Friends!

  
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Copyright 2014, John D. Tew

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _