Family History Project

So get up off those slave ships, build your own pyramids, write your own hieroglphys

I love history. Yet every student of history understands that the truth of everything is separate from its accounting. This doesn't mean there is no truth to be found, but rather to know that whatever history you are reading is written from a perspective that necessarily affects the recollection of that truth. In physics, we cite the observer principle which suggests that the act of observation introduces a change to the observed system. We can find the same type of difficulties when reading any historical account, but here's where my family history project idea starts.

My father has written numerous pages in journals chronicling his life. If I were to read them all and write a biography according to those source materials, I could provide a more-or-less accurate account of his life. Presumably. Of course, in reading his stories wherein our histories cross, there will be an inevitable point where I as the observer may affect that account: I may want to adjust his story to include my recollection. If I am successful in resisting this temptation, and his biography passes to the next generation -- my children -- then they can read about their grandfather in his own words. If we read the account together, it is at this time where I can editorialize.

Not every family will record their history in writing, so a biography is both too literal and too restrictive. Grandpa could be a rolling stone, so to speak, and his history is best recorded in sheet music or audio clips. The point is that if each generation took the responsibility to record the personality of their elders, we could also coincidentally record the happenings of the time. This process could dminish the power of Historian-brand writers, and restore it to a more popular account. It also means that each generation will have to figure out the best way to present this account to their children for biography. I'll be a writer, but who knows what Andie will be.