I can give them the history that preceded them, the sense of where they are located in a long human chain of existence. It will be up to them to create and record the history that comes after this moment, but I can give them a thorough grounding in the past. I think this project is worth doing not because my family is so extraordinary but rather because it isn't. It s also worth doing because it's my family. Every family has stories worth recording, and everyone ought to know something about their family history.
Most families are both unique in their own ways and also unexceptional.
If we could come to a better understanding of the uniqueness that is in unexceptional people, we would have a better understanding of the majority of humankind. In recovering the past we discover ourselves. I d like to help other people edit, research and distribute their own family history manuscripts, and that s what I m doing with this guide. Another project I m working on is a memoir about how I came to be so involved in the life of Ruth Douglass and what I went through to learn all I did. It is to be called Recovering Ruth .