Weekly LIVE Updates at Projectkin

Barbara at Projectkin

Archives of our weekly updates from Barbara, the Projectkin ringleader. Each week, she shares a short update about what's ahead for the coming week, inviting guests to share their perspectives or plans for special events. Though the program is live, recordings provide access to useful links and references discussed during the program. The live event is available only to subscribers and followers through the Substack app for web, desktop, or mobile. Subscriptions are free. projectkin.substack.com

  1. 1d ago

    Livestream: Sneak Peek at Migration Stories with Lisa Maguire

    Thank you, Jim the Historian, Lisa Rex, Charles Herzer, Gwendolyn Copeland, Gadsby Family History, Kyla Bayang, Linda Teather, Jude Rhodes, THOUGHTS & MUSINGS, Richard Hogan, MD, PhD(2), DBA, Jill Swenson, and so many more of you for joining Lisa Maguire, and me today. It’s great to have you part of the conversation. I can’t tell you how much it means to me here on the American Pacific coast to see all of you joining from Australia, New Zealand, and across the American states and provinces. Your thoughts, comments, and encouragement are the glue that holds this community together. The little ❤️s you drop keep us motivated and give this post a little more visibility. Feel free to create clips from this post to share with your friends. Projectkin programming is offered free thanks to the kind support of our generous patrons around 🌏 the 🌍 world 🌎. Migration Stories Series Coming in September It was just a little over two weeks ago that we wrapped up the Stories250 series with an epic online party on July 9th. The series made me realize that this theme-based approach could go along way toward motivating individuals to explore their family stories. The notion of Migration Stories has been floating around for a while since it’s a variation on the origin stories every family tells themselves. “Mom, where are we from?” The topic also speaks to the heart of the cultures each family struggles to pass down through stories. Lisa Maguire of Ancestory joined me back in May to discuss the topic in the context of her earlier discussion of her talk about Micro History for Projectkin, “Family History Asks Large Questions in Small Places,” in August 2025.: The topic actually first came up in March when Jennifer Jones and I started playing with the idea soon after RootsTech: Completing our quartet of planners is Jude Rhodes of Yorkshire Family History. Together we’re working through subtle mechanics for the program to ensure that we all get the most out of it. Have some ideas, suggestions, or feedback? We’d love to hear it. Drop me a message, and I’ll bring it up: Near term, my plan is to release a post describing the program by the end of July and have the program launch in September with a showcase on the first of our migration paths. Migration Paths We’ve realized that every migration includes a point of origin, a destination, and a time window. As we discussed it further, the themes, events, and challenges became obvious as topics worth exploring as well. This is why I’ve called this a series-of-series because each migration path is itself so big. To make that work, we’ve come up with the idea of a migration “path pilot.” We’ll have more detail on the requirements and responsibilities of a path pilot, but fundamentally, it’ll be someone who's fully invested in the story and can guide and encourage others exploring the same path. Want to be a “Path Pilot?” Does that already sound interesting? I’d love to hear from you now. The insight and perspective of community members has already greatly informed the planning for all of this. Again, drop me a private message, or add a public comment below. Migration Mysteries Finally, in the recording you’ll hear about this little challenge to get us all started. Take a moment and ask yourself about an ancestor you can think of in your family tree where you don’t know where they came from. An ancestor, for example, documented in Boston, but you have no idea how or when they arrived. Did you write a post, article, or public social media post about that? Send it to me before next week, Sunday, August 2nd, and I’ll add it to our shared map at Projectkin.org/migration-mystery. This map is live now in an interactive whiteboard from Canva. Each submitted story becomes an embed in the map. I’ll have more detail about navigating such maps in the coming weeks and months as this program gets going. Thank you all for your encouragement and support and my deepest gratitude to Lisa Maguire, Jennifer Jones, and Jude Rhodes for their support in all of this. We are all fellow travelers. Get full access to Projectkin at projectkin.substack.com/subscribe

  2. Jul 19

    Projectkin Live: The View from Kathy’s Corner

    Thank you Ann Larkham, Tamara Buzyna Adams, Linda Teather, Rita McConnell, Bill Moore, Lisa Maguire, Linda Stufflebean, Jim the Historian, The Wicked Sommelier, and many others for tuning into my live video with Kathy Stone! I can’t tell you how much it means to me here on the American Pacific coast to see all of you joining from the UK, the continent, across the American states and Canadian provinces. Your thoughts, comments, and encouragement are the glue that holds this community together. The little ❤️s you drop keep us motivated and give this series a little more visibility. Feel free to create clips from this post to share with your friends. Projectkin can offer these and all of our programs around the world for free, thanks to the generous support of our patrons. Learn more about us and join the fun! Privacy & Family Stories This month, Barbara is back from last month’s undisclosed location in the Sierra Foothills and ready for Kathy’s deep dive into Privacy for Family Historians and Genealogists. This is the kind of topic that, like backups, is basic to “adulting” today. However, as family historians and genealogists, we have to take special precautions around privacy. It’s also a field in constant flux. In an age of AI, bad actors have access to intelligence accelerants that they could only have imagined before. Kathy will use Thursday’s episode to share some of the learnings from her specialized training in privacy as a photo manager. Like accountants and attorneys, photo managers often handle very personal information for their clients. That experience gives Kathy a framework all of us can benefit from. Like the brass tacks and sticky tape Kathy usually has for us, you know you can count on her for a nifty collection of resources to share in Thursday’s program. Do you have friends or family members who may benefit from this? Please share our work and invite friends and family to join us: If you can’t make it on Thursday, you can always catch up by watching the recording. As always, you’ll find the full archive at Kathy’s Corner: Projectkin.org/kathys-corner. About Kathy Stone Kathy has been the “cornerstone” of Projectkin from the beginning, when we started on another platform more than three years ago. Kathy’s commitment to the physical artifacts of family history now inspires our whole community. Learn more about what Kathy is doing today at her own publication, where she supports families with the physical legacy of the past: As Projectkin, we’re here to help families tell their stories in any form. I feel strongly that our collections of photos and other artifacts are key to our memories and, in turn, our stories. Is this the kind of thing your friends and followers might appreciate as well? Kindly add a recommendation so they know how you feel. You’ll be doing us the favor of spreading our work. Thank you. Get full access to Projectkin at projectkin.substack.com/subscribe

  3. Jul 12

    Live Preview of “Story Braids” with Diane Burley

    Gosh, thank you Lisa Maguire, Mica, professor emerita, Marian Beaman, Kathy Stone, David Shaw, Judith Dianne Ely, The Family Histories Podcast, MamaCarole, Bruce L Porter and so many more of you for joining Diane Burley and me today. I can’t tell you how much it means to us to see you join us from around the continent. Thank you for your added ❤️s to help others see this conversation, too. Thank you. Did I miss you? Add your thoughts in the comments below. Projectkin programming is offered free with the kind support of our Patrons worldwide. Explore our story and join us 👇. You may already know Diane for her incredible storytelling contributions, most recently in Projectkin’s Stories250 series and at the special Stories250 event last week. Through all of these projects, Diane has honed in on the work of women in these historical periods. Her distinct point of view has led to her work on her ancestor and 19th-century labor activist, Leonora Kearny Berry. You can read more about these stories in Diane’s publication, Our conversation today and on Thursday will focus less on Leonora’s story and more on the process of selecting, describing, and — in Diane’s words — “braiding” that story into a compelling narrative of historical non-fiction. In the recording, you’ll hear as some of our community’s most prominent voices pop in with tips, references, and suggestions. Among them: * Marian Beaman, who suggested the word “perhapsing” offered an example in this post of hers, “A Glorious Fourth, 1909 Style and a Memoir Tip” * Lisa Maguire, who was our guest for one of the most popular Projectkin events on Micro History, added this insight in the context of fabulating based on facts: “I think this approach works best for older people who have a wealth of personal experiences and experience in the world to be able to fill in gaps, make inferences, to pull this off. I think a very young writer with less to draw upon would find it challenging.” * David Shaw, a generous contributor in so many conversations, added a quote from novelist Ernest Hemingway… “If a writer of prose knows enough about what he is writing about he may omit things that he knows and the reader, if the writer is writing truly enough, will have a feeling of those things as strongly as though the writer had stated them.” This active discussion with several more delicious additions from our audience will continue in the Zoom meeting format on Thursday in Diane’s program, “Storyteller Tips: Braiding the strands of archive, history, and family into your story.” Is this the kind of post you think your friends and followers might appreciate as well? Kindly add a recommendation so they know how you feel. You’ll be doing us the favor of spreading our work. Thank you. I’m able to share these, along with all of our programs and posts, for free thanks to both the economics of modern platforms and the generous support of our wonderful Projectkin patrons. You’re more than welcome to share this post with friends and family to encourage them to take the time to consider their own stories. Thank you. Get full access to Projectkin at projectkin.substack.com/subscribe

  4. Jun 29

    Stories250 with guest Helene McClanahan of Letters from Labelle

    Thank you, Mira Romaine, Kyla Bayang, Jennifer Jones, Linda Teather, Tamara Buzyna Adams, Jim the Historian, Sheri Handel, Becky Hetchler, Karen - Your Family Stories, Bill Schock, Nolene, MamaCarole, John Higginbotham, Todd Wilson, Judith Dianne Ely, Bill Moore, and so many more for joining Helene McClanahan and me today. I can’t tell you how much it means to me here on the American West Coast to see all of you joining from across the Pacific in Australia and New Zealand, and from across the American states and Canadian provinces. The little ❤️s you drop keep us motivated and give this series a little more visibility. Feel free to create clips from this post to share with your friends. Projectkin programming is offered free thanks to the kind support of our generous patrons around 🌏 the 🌍 world 🌎. The War Wasn’t the Same in the West Helene’s personal perspective on this complicated side of the war lets us “ride shotgun” on the battles and appreciate the harsh realities of this conflict. Her presentation of the story plucked just the rudiments of the story she’s been knitting in the chapter releases about her ancestor, legendary Pennsylvania & Kentucky Frontiersman John Hinkson (1729-1789). This incredible story is a fantastic introduction to the western side of this battle for anyone with ancestors from this area. A little research into your own ancestors may drop you right into this story, or perhaps into the next valley. If you’re not already familiar with Helene | Letters from LaBelle, you’ll find her publication here: About Stories250 Learn more about the series at Projectkin.org/stories250, view all recordings and posts, then explore the posts in an interactive timeline. You’ll find the first of the eight chapters she’s released so far here: Remember, all of our speakers, their guests, and community members are invited to our two free programs on Thursday, July 9th where we’ll talk about the stories, our experience with this project, and where this might go from here. The two programs will be recorded and shared the next day in a single recording. This program will celebrate the conclusion of the series and complement the commemorative magazine I’m producing to include all articles in the series. Learn more: If you have stories to share, there’s still time. The window to submit posts remains open through midnight Pacific time on June 30th. Learn more at Projectkin.org/stories250. Participation in the program is entirely free. As Projectkin, we’re here to help families tell their stories in any form. I feel strongly that our collections of photos and other artifacts are key to our memories and, in turn, our stories. If you have a publication of your own, and you think your friends might find this interesting, why not let your friends know with a recommendation? These are public posts, and our events are free because sharing your stories is that important. Let’s get this started See all coming events in our calendar at Projectkin.org/events. With the American Semiquincentennial coming up next week, I’m taking a holiday on Friday, July 5th. Our next program will be the July 9th duo. Join us? (As Mission: Genealogy, I’ll also be hosting sessions on July 7th. Please see MissionGenealogy.org/events to learn more.) Get full access to Projectkin at projectkin.substack.com/subscribe

  5. Jun 21

    Projectkin Live: The View from Kathy's Corner

    Thank you Bill Moore, Rose Mungaray, Gail Saucedo, Linda Teather, MamaCarole, Diane Burley, Marian Beaman, and so many of you for joining Kathy Stone, and me today. I can’t tell you how much it means to me here on the American Pacific coast to see all of you joining from the UK, the continent, across the American states and Canadian provinces. Your thoughts, comments, and encouragement are the glue that holds this community together. The little ❤️s you drop keep us motivated and give this series a little more visibility. Feel free to create clips from this post to share with your friends. Projectkin programming is offered free thanks to the kind support of our generous patrons around 🌏 the 🌍 world 🌎. Of Quilting Bees and Scrapbooks This Solstice weekend was a little different from your ordinary weekday break. I’m updating these notes after my drive home from a getaway with my husband in a secret location in the Sierra Foothills. Kathy used the livestream as a break from her marathon Zoom sessions with scrapbooking friends, keeping each other company while scrapbooking. This modern twist on the quilting bee had Kathy thinking about how we tell our own stories. She’d recently lost a dear friend whom she’d gotten to know when her kids were little. Like Kathy, her “mom-friend” was the family storykeeper. She was the one who collected the kids’ stories, treasures, and mementos. With her passing, the family struggled to collect remembrances. Losing her friend was a wake-up call. It’s time to focus on her own stories. Or, as Kathy’s guest in May, Lori Olson White puts it, it’s time to “tell your own damn stories.” The quiet mountain air, dazzling starlight, and the chatter of woodpeckers, wrens, and ravens have a way of focusing the mind. The Sierra foothills of California were where gold was discovered in 1849, irrevocably changing the region's history. Exploring small museums and historic parks, I came away more committed than ever not only to “being a good ancestor.” I’m concerned about more than my own story. I also want my descendants can appreciate our connection with history. Whether as witnesses to nature before fire, floods, and plagues, or as testimony to moments in history, our stories tell our descendants about where they came from. As with all Kathy’s Corner programs, we’ll get down to the brass tacks, sticky tape, and acid-free options. We might even cover topics like converting and preserving media, links, and objects. ⮕ As a bonus this week, Lori will be back as a special guest to share an update on her progress with her “Bridge to 2076” project. Who knows, you just might be inspired to start one of your own. Hmm… Here’s an idea: * If you’re getting started on a big project and need a little encouragement to keep going, why not join one of our Mission: Genealogy gatherings and let’s talk about it? It’s not quite a quilting bee, but it’s a way to gather with friends and “do Genealogy together,” talk through a storytelling approach with like-minded supporters, or ask for help in research. * Just sign up on Zoom. We’ll see you there! As Projectkin, we’re here to help families tell their stories in any form. I feel strongly that our collections of photos and other artifacts are key to our memories and, in turn, our stories. If you have a publication of your own, and you think your friends might find this interesting, why not let your friends know with a recommendation? These are public posts, and our events are free because sharing your stories is that important. Let’s get this started! See all coming events in our calendar at Projectkin.org/events. Get full access to Projectkin at projectkin.substack.com/subscribe

  6. Jun 7

    Speakers’ Corner Preview: Live with with Jill Swenson and Katherine Brodt

    Thank you, Linda Teather, Diane Burley, Bill Moore, Jenn Sharp, Sara Biren, Erin O'Malley, MamaCarole, Richard Hogan, MD, PhD(2), DBA, Mary Wagner, and so many more of you for joining Jennifer Jones, Jill Swenson and Katherine Brodt today. Thank you for your comments, thoughts, and encouragement. They are the glue that holds this community together. The little ❤️s you drop keep us motivated and give this series a little more visibility. Feel free to create clips from this post to share with your friends. Projectkin programming is offered free thanks to the kind support of our generous patrons around 🌏 the 🌍 world 🌎. Connecting Heart, Home, and Family Today’s episode centered on the subtle ways in which a place becomes part of a family. Jennifer’s conversation with Kate and Jill is a terrific introduction to their program later in the week: Jill Swenson: The Town of Warroad near Lake of the Woods Jill starts with a touching view of home in this remote, and in winter, very cold part of Minnesota’s “Chimney” near Lake of the Woods. It’s hard to appreciate the geography without a map: Jill framed the experience of returning home in the context of her mother’s story and how this place pulled her in. (Jill’s new memoir, The Land of Everlasting Sky, is available in bookstores and has started shipping to pre-orders.) Thursday’s program promises to be a fascinating weave of place, cultures, and grief. Learn more about Jill and her publication at: Katherine Brodt: 1890s Home on Vinalhaven, Maine Kate’s story takes us to the Atlantic coast island of Vinalhaven, her family home from the 1980s, with a history dating back to the 1890s. As a trained historian with experience connecting families to the history of a house museum, Kate has turned her skills to getting to know the strangers who lived in her home. It started for Kate with an itch of curiosity, a collage, and now a growing Substack publication. We look forward to hearing more about both of these stories and considering how they might inspire our own work. In fact, the UK-based Society of Genealogists’ window for submission of talks for this year’s “All About That Place” (AATP) series is still open. Consider your own studies about place, one-place studies, and even changing places, and submit your ideas by June 30th. Learn more here. Projectkin will again be a co-sponsor of the event, October 7-16, offering our own series of livestreamed programs. Programs from last year can still be viewed at Projectkin.org/aatp. Stay tuned for more. As Projectkin, we’re here to help families tell their stories in any form. I feel strongly that our collections of photos and other artifacts are key to our memories and, in turn, our stories. If you have a publication of your own, and you think your friends might find this interesting, why not let your friends know with a recommendation? This nifty button, “your.substack.com/publish/recommendations,” takes you to your own recommendations dashboard. (Seriously, try it!) Naturally, I’d love a recommendation, but I also encourage everyone to be generous in sharing recommendations for the publications you enjoy. It helps us find each other as family history buffs in the nicest possible way. 🥰 Oh, one more thing — if you think this post might interest a friend or colleague, why not just pass it along? These are public posts, and our events are free because sharing your stories is that important. Let’s get this started! See all coming events in our calendar at Projectkin.org/events. Get full access to Projectkin at projectkin.substack.com/subscribe

  7. May 31

    Projectkin Live with Paul Chiddicks: Previewing “The Story Finds You.”

    Thank you Linda Teather, Jim the Historian, Brahna Derr, Mark Lane, Lisa Maguire, Rain Aldous, Kristin Rapinac, Jill Swenson, Kyla Bayang, The Wicked Sommelier, Roland Millward, Jennifer Ann Blair, Steve Bowbrick, Country Girl and so many more of you for joining Paul Chiddicks and me today. I can’t tell you how much it means to us to see you join us from around the continent. Thank you for your added ❤️s to help others see this conversation, too. Thank you. Did I miss you? Add your thoughts in the comments below. Projectkin programming is offered free with the kind support of our Patrons worldwide. Explore our story and join us 👇. Listening for the Story with “sir” Paul 🥐 I’ve been chasing Paul Chiddicks to join me in a Projetkin event for a year or more. We’d never quite been able to find a time that worked. As I’ve gotten to know him, his personal story of coaching has added a richness to the whole that he adds to our family history community. It’s an honor to have made the calendar adjustments to make both today’s program and to arrange for our special episode on Adelaide’s story on Wednesday this week. If you haven’t already, take a moment to register. We’ll wait. Well done. In our conversation this morning, Paul talked about how he’s used his research skills since filling out the structural genealogical elements of his family tree to explore the stories that unfold from the limbs. He mentioned several that came to him, among them * The American pilot’s gravestone, he discovered while on his walk: * The Boy Behind The Picture, the story of the little newsboy on the day after the Titanic sank: * Finally, Adelaide’s story. There is so much behind this story. Paul referenced a few elements in our conversation, but each is worthy of a little exploration ahead of Wednesday’s program. First, is this piece on Substack about the photograph itself: Next is the original post on his Chiddicks Family Tree site that went viral with the story of Adelaide Springett: On Wednesday, Paul will share the details of this incredible story, the connection to the industrialization of England, Jack-the-Ripper, and a larger story that connects with everyone of us as we witness poverty in our own lives. Is this the kind of post you think your friends and followers might appreciate as well? Kindly add a recommendation so they know how you feel. You’ll be doing us the favor of spreading our work. Thank you. I’m able to share these and all of our programs and posts for free thanks to both the economics of modern platforms and the generous support of our wonderful Projectkin patrons. You’re more than welcome to share this post with friends and family to encourage them to take the time to consider their own stories. Thank you. Get full access to Projectkin at projectkin.substack.com/subscribe

  8. May 27

    Live with the Ride Along Partners at the US National Genealogical Society Annual Meeting

    This is an update to the post originally published on May 27th, immediately after our livestream from the opening reception in the expo hall at the NGS Family History Conference in Fort Wayne, Indiana. The conference gave us an excuse to build on the Ride Along theme GeneaBloggers transformed at this year’s RootsTech with DearMYRTLE and Kyla Bayang chatting with visitors and exploring news and highlights from the show floor. The NGS conference is a very different sort of event, and this expo hall filled with local historical and genealogical societies was a very different kind of experience. It’s an insiders’ event that allows all of us bitten by the genealogy bug to celebrate and inspire each other. This event created a number of very special opportunities we may be talking about in the coming months, but I wanted to take a moment to thank not only my buddy and roomie, Kyla, but also those who, as active Geneabloggers, were supporting our mission in their conversations with everyone at the conference. Without Paul’s tap on the shoulder, the crazy livestream never would have happened. In fact, two of our members received awards during the opening session recognizing their work over the years: Randy Seaver, Geneaholic, and Ron Chan. * As a well-known voice on Monday’s with Myrt, DearMYRTLE posted an article about Randy’s award of recognition on Thursday.) * You might recognize Ron for his extensive work in Chinese-American genealogy. Though most of his programming is with local groups here in the Bay Area, he’s also joined us as a guest at Projectkin for several posts and events. I’ll take responsibility for some minor technical glitches, but I’m also proud that we tried. You’ll see these lessons weave their way into the success of future programs and events. As community members and participants from Projectkin and Geneabloggers, we were honored to meet so many new people and to thank our kind supporters. I’m grateful to our host, Rick Voight, who went out of his way to make space for us in his platinum-sponsor booth space at the show, Vivid-Pix. In the video, you’ll see me chatting with founder Bruce Ha at Nanofiche, a fascinating solution for long-term image storage. We came away from the conference with hundreds of notes, document scans, and inspired ideas. It’s going to take weeks to absorb them all. Thanks for coming along with Kyla and me. If any of you, as members and supporters of our Projectkin and Geneabloggers, have an upcoming public event, we just might have some materials you can use to help share the story. I’ve tried to capture our joint mission to encourage family history storytelling at RideAlongPartners.org: That domain property also gives us a quick and easy way to share photos, stories, and encouragement with organizations. You can see the update for the NGS conference here. We also shared little blue pencils and bookmarks (convenient for use at the ACPL Genealogy Center), but they are inexpensive and generic precisely so that we can keep using them at local events. Add your thoughts in the comments below or just reach out to Kyla or me directly. Get full access to Projectkin at projectkin.substack.com/subscribe

    Live with the Ride Along Partners at the US National Genealogical Society Annual Meeting
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Archives of our weekly updates from Barbara, the Projectkin ringleader. Each week, she shares a short update about what's ahead for the coming week, inviting guests to share their perspectives or plans for special events. Though the program is live, recordings provide access to useful links and references discussed during the program. The live event is available only to subscribers and followers through the Substack app for web, desktop, or mobile. Subscriptions are free. projectkin.substack.com

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