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Week 41 Prompt: Context
This week’s 52 Ancestors theme is”Context.” This is one thing I have been focusing on lately—putting my ancestors in context based on the history of the time and place. I thought I’d share a few reference books I’ve come across. Some I have read, some I’ve read only partially, and the others are on my to-read list. Many of these were recommended by other genealogists. I’ve only included those that are mostly general in nature and tried to group them by time period.
- The Writer’s Guide to Everyday Life in Colonial America, 1607-1783, by Dale Taylor
- Everyday Life in Early America, by David Freeman Hawke
- Women in Early America: Struggle, Survival, and Freedom in a New World, by Dorothy A. Mays
- A History of Stepfamilies in Early America, by Lisa Wilson
- Home Life in Colonial Days, by Alice Morse Earle (originally published in 1898, available for free on Kindle)
- [The Writer’s Guide to] Everyday Life in the 1800s, by Marc McCutcheon
- [The Writer’s Guide to] Everyday Life During the Civil War, by Michael J. Varhola
- Daily Life in the Industrial United States, 1870-1900, by Julie Husband and Jim O’Loughlin
- Daily Life in Immigrant America, 1870-1920, by June Granatir Alexander
- Great Times: An Informal Social History of the United States, 1914-29, by J. C. Furnas
- Daily Life in the United States, 1920-1940: How Americans Lived Through the Roaring Twenties and the Great Depression, by David E. Kyvig
- The Writer’s Guide to Everyday Life from Prohibition Through World War II, by Marc McCutcheon
- Stormy Weather: Crosslights on the Nineteen Thirties: An Informal Social History of the United States 1929-41, by J. C. Furnas
I have a whole list on Goodreads dedicated to the topic of social history that has even more books. While some are specific to a place, you might find similar books for your particular places (in fact, some of them are part of various series that cover a many different cities and towns).
This post does contain affiliate links.
Oh dear. I dare not read any further down the list. I found and ordered the very first item! I thank you, my hubby doesn’t!
LOL! I won’t tell if you won’t tell 😉
The book arrived and it looks quite good. Thanks a lot, I think.
Which one did you get?
The Writer’s Guide to Everyday Life in Colonial America. I’m toying around with the idea of trying to write a novel about one of my ancestors. We will see, but I’m reading a lot of books about the times and places that would be appropriate. This will help fill in some of the blanks, I think.
Good luck!