If you are (or know someone who is) born between 1995 and 2010, and they are into family history, let me introduce you to Daniel Loftus of the The Hidden Branch.
Daniel is a young family historian from the Gen Z generation, and he’s looking to connect with other young researchers around the world. It is true there that hasn’t been that many opportunities for “young genies” to connect, as family history while certainly not exclusively, does largely tend to be an older persons game. Anyway Daniel is changing that, by being active on social media (blog, podcast, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube).
Daniel is a family historian from the Gen Z generation, and he’s looking to connect with other young researchers around the world.
It is true there that hasn’t been that many opportunities for “young genies” to connect, as family history while certainly not exclusively, does largely tend to be an older persons game. Anyway Daniel is changing that, by being active on social media (blog, podcast, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube).
Daniel was a speaker recently at THE Genealogy Show, speaking on “Genealogy from a Young Genealogist’s Perspective”. I didn’t get to see this, but what a fantastic topic, However I did read Janet Few’s report on it (Young Genealogists: what can YOU do to nurture the next generation of family historians?), and from that I can see that he had some very valid points.
There seems to be a regular story from societies on how they are not able to attract younger members, but part of the essence was what are Societies and organisations actually doing to encourage the under 25s?
Taking a look as the major Australian genie societies, and it’s great to see that three currently offer student or young genealogist memberships. But let’s hope that more join in soon!
– Society of Australian Genealogists
– Genealogical Society of Victoria
– FamilyHisoryWA
Gotta love this enthusiam, here’s a quote taken from The Hidden Branch Twitter feed:
We are a group made up of #GenZGenealogists, we hope to get people our age interested in genealogy.
We couldn’t wait to announce our show “GenZGenealogy”. This is our way of showing the world the power of young genealogists and what we can do.
So young genies all around the world, thanks to the power of social media, you all have a place to connect and interact, with other like-minded, similar aged people. No longer are you “going it alone”.
Huge, huge kudos to Daniel for getting this going, I wish him and all the Gen Z followers all the very best, both with their research and getting the Gen Z collaboration happening. I know from working in a genealogy bookshop for many years, there have been a few young genie’s, so I hope they see this, and are able to connect with others.
What’s left to say other you can follow The Hidden Branch everywhere, and when on social media, be sure to use the hashtag #GenZGenealogist.
The socials:
– Facebook
– Twitter
– Twitter (Daniel’s own)
– Instagram
– YouTube
– Podcast
– Blog
– Website
