Whether you want to share photos, newspaper clippings, marriage certificates, recipes, clothing, and more, below are some ideas for sharing your family history. But remember, DO NOT keep original records on display for long periods of time! Only display copies. Exposure to light will damage the documents. Keep them stored properly, and only take them out on rare occasions.

1. Display Table

Set up a table to display heirlooms and/or copies of records for relatives to peruse at an upcoming family gathering. Customize the theme of the display to the event. For example, a display at a wedding could include old wedding photos, invitations, marriage announcements from newspapers, marriage certificates, or a wedding dress.

2. Social Media

Digitally share your research for free in the form of images, audio files, and videos with social media. Here’s how you can use different social media sites to share your genealogical discoveries:

• Facebook

On Facebook you can create a group that’s either public or private. In this group, yourself and other members can share photos, records, videos, newspapers items, links to other websites, etc.

• Instagram

Use Instagram to share old family photos. Photos of people tend to be the most popular on Instagram.

• Pinterest

On Pinterest you can create boards that other users can follow. You can organize your boards anyway you choose. For instance, you may want to create a board for sharing items related to one line of your family. Another board can include photos of tombstones, or photos and records related to family weddings.

3. Newsletter

Newsletters can be used to regularly update your family members on your latest research findings. Mailing a newsletter can be very expensive, so I recommend an e-newsletter. An e-newsletter also gives you more capabilities. As a result, you can embed audio and video files, or send links to websites. Once you have a list of e-mail addresses to send to, there are several options for creating a very nice e-newsletter inexpensively. If Microsoft Publisher is installed on your computer, you can create a newsletter from one of the program’s templates. Once completed, send the document as an attachment to your email list. There are also several email marketing platforms that offer free accounts. Moreover, they make it very easy to create high-quality e-newsletters. Some free options include:

• HubSpot
• MailChimp
• Sendinblue

4. Family History Video

There’s no better way to bring your ancestor’s story to life than with a video. A family history video can be created by editing a story together using photos, records, narration or captions, and interviews with family members. If this seems like a monumental task to you, break the project up into small pieces. You don’t need to create a two-hour feature-length documentary.

Here’s a few ideas for the format your video could take:

• A video biography of an ancestor or ancestral couple. Check out an example here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GJ87fr5V-sc
• The story of an ancestor’s military service
• The story of an ancestor’s immigration
• An oral history interview with an older relative

If you plan to interview relatives for this project, you don’t need to be in the same location. Interviews can be done on a video conferencing platform like Zoom or Google Hangouts. Virtual interviews can be recorded and downloaded to your computer for editing. Both of these programs offer free versions. However, the free Zoom account only allows 40-minute calls.

Once the video’s completed, you can burn DVD’s to give to your family. Another option would be to upload the videos to a social media site, like YouTube and share the link.

To make a high-quality video, you should have the following equipment:

• Camcorder OR cell phone with a high-quality video camera
• Tripod
• Audio recorder
• Microphones that plug into audio recorder
• Video editing software, such as Adobe Premiere Elements
• Blank DVD’s
• DVD cases

5. Oral History CD

I cannot stress enough how important it is to record interviews with older relatives about your family’s history. Ideally, you should record the interview on video. However, if your subject is reluctant to appear on camera, or if you don’t have the resources to create a video, an oral history CD is a great option too, and people can listen to it in their cars.

There are many books available about conducting an effective oral history interview. They’ll also give you many ideas for questions to ask. After the interview, type a transcription that you can refer back to and search easily. The interview can be edited, burned on a CD, and shared with interested relatives.

6. PowerPoint Slideshow

With PowerPoint you can create a slideshow of photos, records, interesting facts about ancestors, and audio and video files can be embedded. Set the presentation to run on repeat on a laptop or smart TV at a family gathering, and your work is done.

7. Family History Scrapbook

You can get really creative with scrapbooks, and add an artistic flair to your work. Just make sure you’re organizing everything in a logical order. Make it clear to readers how everyone is connected. A good way to do this is by showing snippets of your family tree or relationship charts throughout the book. Check for local or online scrapbooking classes that may give you some ideas.

8. Published Book

A published book about your family’s history can take several different formats:

• Published Genealogy

A published genealogy can include all the known descendants of an ancestor or ancestral couple, or they can include all the known ancestors of an individual.

• Biography of an Ancestor

If a published genealogy is a bigger project than you’d like to take on, another option is to select one ancestor or one couple and write a biography focusing on their lives. Your subject should be an ancestor who led an interesting life and left behind a significant number of records. This could include someone who had a distinguished military career, or a well-known public figure who was frequently mentioned in local newspapers, or a person who was involved in numerous legal proceedings.

• Collection of Biographical Sketches

If you have several ancestors you think would make interesting subjects for a short biography, compile all of their stories into one book.

• Memoirs of Yourself or a Relative

Capture the memories and life stories of yourself or an older family member and publish them in a book. This could be an invaluable keepsake for future generations.

Traditionally, published family history books have been quite dry. In fact, they may only include the birth, marriage and death dates and locations for many of the people included in the book. Whichever form your published family history book takes, don’t be afraid to get creative. Craft an interesting story around your ancestors’ lives. A couple books available that can help with this task include:

Writing Family Histories and Memoirs by Kirk Polking

How to Write Compelling Stories from Family History by Annette Gendler

9. Website

You have a few different options for sharing your family history research on a website:

• Build your family tree on a tree sharing site like Ancestry or FamilySearch, and make sure that the tree’s settings are public
• Create a family tree on software, and upload the GEDCOM file to a site like RootsWeb
• Create your own website

Creating your own website will take time, money, and technological skills, but it will give you a lot of flexibility with how you share your work. You can include family photos, digital images of records, audio files, videos, a blog, and anything else you can imagine. To get started with creating your own website, you’ll need to purchase a domain name and find a web hosting service.

10. Blog

If building your own website, a blog can be a part of the site, but you don’t need your own website to have a blog. Some free blogging platforms include:

• Tumblr
• Blogger
• Medium

If you’re not sure how to structure a blog about your family history research, here’s a couple ideas:

• Each article can be a biographical sketch of a different ancestor or couple
• You can regularly write about your recent discoveries, for example, “This month I visited the Pennsylvania State Archives and found…”

11. Clothing Display

12. Family History Themed Dinner Party

Many people who have a collection of family recipes publish a cookbook, which is a wonderful way to preserve the recipes. Another idea is to host a family history themed dinner party with relatives. Assign each guest a different recipe to make. A label or sign can be made for each recipe including its name, and the person who created the recipe. If you need more recipes to add to your menu, research popular dishes from a region that your immigrant ancestors came from and add them to the mix too.

13. Customized Jigsaw Puzzle

Many online retailers sell customized jigsaw puzzles. They can be of varying sizes and feature photos uploaded by customers. You can create a puzzle featuring a collage of old family photos. Bring it to a family get-together to assemble with relatives while sharing stories with them about the people in the photos. Another thing to remember is to be sure that the images are of a high enough resolution to meet the printing company’s standards. This information will likely be specified on its website.

14. Relationship Charts

Are you distantly related to a celebrity or historical figure? Perhaps an A-lister is your 6th cousin twice removed, or you share an ancestor with a U.S. President. Relationship charts show exactly how two people in a family tree are related. Some genealogy software programs will easily create these charts for you. I use RootsMagic, and you can use this software to create relationship charts by following these steps:

• Select Reports in the top menu
• Hover over Charts until another menu pops up
• Select Relationship Chart
• Click box labeled Person 1
• Select the first person from the list of people appearing in your tree
• Repeat steps 4 and 5 for Person 2
• Customize the layout, fonts, and information you’d like to include in the report
• Click Generate Report

15. Timeline

There are a number of online tools to create timelines. Many of these are designed for teachers, but they can be used for genealogical storytelling as well. You can incorporate different file types in these timelines and share them in a variety of ways. I created a timeline that incorporated Google Maps, photos, records and an audio file using Sutori. Check it out: https://www.sutori.com/en/story/life-of-janet-jennie-hart-higgins–zwmqCzCCEv1KDYKA2zqzNjsb

16. Printed Family Tree

Family ChartMasters is a company that specializes in printing family trees. These charts can be customized to include ancestor’s photos, and can be printed in many different formats. Some family tree software programs allow you to quickly and easily upload a GEDCOM file from the software directly to Family ChartMasters.

17. Photo Display

18. Journal

Genealogy isn’t just about the past. It’s also about preserving stories from the present to share with future generations. One way to preserve your stories of today is by journaling. Invest in high-quality materials that will last a long time, like a journal with acid-free paper.

Do you have other ideas for sharing your family history? Share them in the comments.