Many teachers now ask their students to prepare genealogies as a means of developing ideas about enduring historical processes affecting ethnicity, religion and the family. The history of women is receiving increasing attention. Genealogists are responsible for the most significant movement in the 20th Century to preserve and make available community records. Most of this work has occurred through local undertakings of genealogical and historical societies. These organizations promote a heightened sense of community and family history.
American history is really the history of all our families.
We need to preserve the records, compile genealogies and tell their stories. Compile biographical material about ordinary people in towns, counties and cities across the nation. To understand American history students need to learn about their families' part in it, and teachers need to teach them scholarly genealogical research methods.