Family history is a fascinating and personal way for everyone to better understand who they are and how our past has shaped us. Genealogy also helps reveal and strengthen connections between individuals and communities. But how do you get started?
Join the New York Genealogical & Biographical Society (NYG&B) and community partner Queens Memory Project, Queens Public Library for this free in-person event to preserve your own family story. The program will feature two parts:
- Oral historian, Ambar Wortham, invites participants into the thoughtful, tender practice of holding the voices that form who we are. We will cover topics such as what to consider when interviewing living relatives, memorable questions to ask, and methods to create a generative archive to supplement your family history and genealogical research. Whether you're new to family history or ready to go deeper, participants will leave with practical skills, a more intentional approach, and a renewed sense of why this labor of love is worthwhile.
- A 30-minute session for participants to digitally preserve their own family history documents. Participants will receive a confirmation email when they register for this program that includes a sign-up link to choose a time slot before the presentation by Ambar Wortham. Bring a folder of portable family history documents (e.g., birth certificates, family religious records, or photographs), and NYG&B staff will digitally scan these documents on site. Participants will then receive Dropbox access to their stored digitized records. Please email digitizeny@nygbs.org if you have questions about this aspect of the program.
This is a free in-person event held on-site at the Ravenswood Community Learning Center, Queens Public Library, and registration is required. It is part of the NYG&B’s Preserving Your New York Story series, which offers free sessions for people to digitally preserve their own family history records as well as programming for tracing their family history and connecting with their past.
This event will not be livestreamed, but a free recording will be available about a week afterwards.
About the Speaker
Ambar Wortham is the founder of Dandelyons Studios, an oral history practice helping families proactively tell their stories to ensure their legacies blossom across generations. Through research, storytelling, and curated experiences, Ambar delights in contextualizing clients’ histories in larger historical arcs and geographies that anchor descendants to place and purpose. She writes about the journey of family history on her Substack, dandelyonsstudios.substack.com. Ambar holds a B.S. in History, Technology & Society from the Georgia Institute of Technology and an M.A. in Oral History from Columbia University. She credits her path to her first teachers: her grandparents and the land.
About Queens Memory Project at Queens Public Library
Queens Memory is a community-led archiving program founded in 2010 and supported by Queens Public Library and Queens College, CUNY. Queens Memory engages with Queens residents in their mission to both make the public aware of local history collections through programming and online resources, and add new materials to our collections reflecting the diverse communities of our borough. Queens Memory also provides training and materials for those wishing to contribute oral history interviews, photographs, or other records of their neighborhoods, families, and communities.
This series is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council.
