Sarah Nesnow, 2014

My name is Sarah Nesnow and I am passionate about helping families preserve, protect and share their family stories with a larger audience.

I have been working as a professional genealogist for almost ten years, working in locations across the country and in many different time periods. I grew up fascinated by the family stories told by my grandparents, always wanting to learn more. As I got older, I began asking questions, learning more and more. When my grandparents passed away, I became the designated family archivist. The responsibility for the family archive is tremendous, and I feel a deep need to explore ways to share the tidbits that I find and learn with my family and larger audiences. I can’t always remember if I have told this relative that story; I need a way to present my discoveries and not be required to keep track of who has been told what.

The idea for Family Archive Collections arose partly from my coursework in the Master of Library and Information Science program at University of South Carolina. For two of my classes, I needed to create digital libraries on certain topics. I began working with Omeka, an open-source digital content management program, creating and uploading images and metadata. I developed digital exhibits to showcase the objects I had uploaded, refining and documenting my workflow as I progressed. During this process, I began to see how Omeka could be leveraged as a valuable tool for genealogists and family historians, to allow families to easily publish and share family treasures and stories.

Now I can tell my family that there is a website that has all sorts of interesting things on it, some that they may never have seen before. I am also able to enlist the help of the wider world in identifying photographs or objects. As I progress, I hope to show others how this process works and find ways to bring family treasures into the spotlight, so that everyone can enjoy them.