Vita Brevis

If your family is anything like mine, you may have inherited boxes of photos and heirlooms passed down through generations—items that often end up in closets or the basement once you’ve been designated the “family keeper.”

Image 1: Charles Bulfinch by Mather Brown, 1786 (courtesy of the Harvard Art Museums).

In 1897, Havelock Ellis and John Addington Symonds published Sexual Inversion, among the first scientific books written about LGBTQ+ individuals. Within it, LGBTQ+ experiences were explored through case studies. These were presented as natural expressions of the human..

Summer has finally come to New England, and I’m getting ready to pack my bags and head north to the islands of Casco Bay, Maine, for my annual sojourn to “Vacationland.”

I have written a genealogical biography of Nils Trulsen Bru (1776-1823), my 3^rd Great Grandfather, who lived and died in Norway. It has been interesting to learn the customs of that time. Our ancestors did not enjoy the benefits of Social Security or well-funded..

If you patronize your local library or historical society to research your ancestors, analyze censuses, or dive into 19^th-century marriage records, you may have more in common with a modern pop star than you think. In her hit song “Picture You,” Chappell Roan ponders,..

When I lived just outside of Boston, Mt. Auburn Cemetery was my favorite place to walk and explore. Among the thousands who are buried there are members of Boston’s esteemed Revere family. While Paul Revere is best known for his exploits during the American Revolution,..

This kinship chart is something I have been trying to determine for almost thirty years! As teenagers, my friends and I would watch Late Night with Conan O’Brien. We watched an episode on October 23, 1996 with guest Denis Leary, who told Conan that “my grandfather and..

It seems that every headline these days touts Artificial Intelligence (AI) as the future, and even genealogy isn’t immune to the call of AI. While AI can make some roles easier and provide some benefits, it is a tool that should be used with scrutiny.