tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1527613590529958801.post287125420724123371..comments2024-03-07T23:20:49.790-07:00Comments on Genealogy's Star: The origins of American GenealogyJames Tannerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02989059644120454647noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1527613590529958801.post-73911797353940177502013-05-24T09:20:08.375-07:002013-05-24T09:20:08.375-07:00The impetus for why Weil wrote the book is interes...The impetus for why Weil wrote the book is interesting to me. The author is a Frenchman who lives in France. He said he wrote a history of genealogy in America because historians in America have no interest in genealogy (in fact they look down on the subject) and also lacked interest in writing genealogy's history.<br /><br />Elizabeth Shown Mills has written extensively American historians' disdain of genealogists and our goals in NGSQ editorials while editor of that wonderful publication. American historians' dislike of genealogy hit me loud and clear while I was doing my Ph.D. in U.S. history at the University of Utah. After three years of intense study, my advisor asked to drop out of the program because what I was doing was so different from what historians do. In contrast, when I did my M.A. in England, English historians were much more open and accepting of genealogists and they were happy to allow me to do a genealogy-related topic for my thesis. In America, as Weil points out, there is a great chasm between historians and genealogists -- to the detriment of historians in my opinion.Nathan Murphyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16335989842820672777noreply@blogger.com