Comments for Planting the Seeds

Comment on Historical writing and when to use present tense by Brenda

Brenda — Mon, 13 May 2013 04:14:50 +0000

Interesting topic. When I first experienced reading the “historical present tense” in an article in a popular historical magazine, I felt revulsion … author adopting a “voice” in an event where he did not participate. This is not exactly relevant to your topic of genealogical writing. But as a genealogy blogger, and becoming more aware of this usage, I now employ it at times when describing a past anecdote in which I took part.myself. Personally, in writing ancestral narratives, I would not use the device to “assume” my ancestors’ feelings, motives, or personalities.

Comment on Historical writing and when to use present tense by Jana Last

Jana Last — Fri, 03 May 2013 15:50:20 +0000

Thank you for this post. I want to let you know that your blog post is listed in today’s Fab Finds post at http://janasgenealogyandfamilyhistory.blogspot.com/2013/05/follow-friday-fab-finds-for-may-3-2013.html

Have a great weekend!

Comment on Warming up for genealogy season… by Jen Baldwin

Jen Baldwin — Wed, 01 May 2013 21:09:43 +0000

Michael, thanks for posting this. Blog updates like this make it very easy indeed for me, and I have added all of the “in person” events to Conference Keeper. I also love the idea of the brick wall panel, and will mention it in next week’s “Jen’s Top Ten!” post. Thanks again, and I hope to meet you in Las Vegas next week as well. ~ Jen Baldwin

Comment on Historical writing and when to use present tense by Karen

Karen — Wed, 01 May 2013 16:15:21 +0000

Thank you. The timing of this information is “timely.” Anyway, it’s helping me solve a problem I’ve been working on for the past few days.

Comment on Warming up for genealogy season… by Michael Hait, CG(sm)

Michael Hait, CG(sm) — Wed, 01 May 2013 15:56:39 +0000

I do like to see different places! (Even if only out of the side window at 65 mph.)

Comment on Warming up for genealogy season… by Ellen Healy

Ellen Healy — Wed, 01 May 2013 15:54:58 +0000

Michael, I am still very grateful for your traveling all the way to speak to the HCGHS! You do like to travel, don’t you?

Comment on Historical writing and when to use present tense by Michelle Ganus Taggart

Michelle Ganus Taggart — Mon, 29 Apr 2013 16:27:43 +0000

This has been a tough thing for me to remember and apply as I blog my ancestor’s stories, so thank you addressing it in such a straight forward and easy to understand way.

Comment on Historical writing and when to use present tense by Patricia Desmond Biallas

Patricia Desmond Biallas — Sun, 28 Apr 2013 23:35:25 +0000

Never heard of “historical present tense”. It make a lot of sense. Keeps things simple and easy to understand.

Comment on Historical writing and when to use present tense by Genealogy Lady

Genealogy Lady — Sun, 28 Apr 2013 22:05:12 +0000

Thank you for the advice. This is one of those aspects of writing that I stuggle with. I am always going back and correcting my tenses.

Comment on Historical writing and when to use present tense by MikeF

MikeF — Sun, 28 Apr 2013 19:57:14 +0000

I did not read the referenced blog post, but the historical present has always seemed to me to be a tool of historical fiction writers giving a viewpoint of a character from that time perspective. Or someone under hypnosis describing events of the past as if they were taking place now.

However I have also seen it used very briefly in genealogical narratives, including ones by professionals, to *speculate* about personality traits of subjects being discussed. Instead of only setting an individual in context of historical background, they move to the more personal conjectured feelings/motivations of the individual in that context. Which is the stuff of “heart-warming” oral traditions supposedly passed down intact over a span of centuries, but built on few actual real data points.

So while perhaps there are exceptions, I would say that when a genealogical narrative uses the historical present, it most likely moves from setting a individual in historical context into rank speculation about that individual’s feelings and motivations, absent autobiographical material to support same.

I would imagine that we all try to “get into the heads” of our ancestors at some point and *imagine* how they felt and acted and why. Which might even provide a hypothesis that can be tested in research. But in the end imagination is not genealogy for serious researchers. Unpersonalized historical context is.