What did your 20th century ancestor do for a living?
As we research our family tree, we get glimpses of our
ancestors’ occupations through the US census, city directories, and death
certificates. Telling their life stories should include more than a job title.
Ideally, it needs to include descriptions of what that job entailed, what tools
were used, what a work week consisted of, and what that job “looked” like? This
“historical context” allows us to tell a story using items that may not
necessarily mention our ancestors by name but is relevant to our research.
Resources for researching occupations can include employment
records, when available, but they also include archival collections,
newspapers, and home sources. One easy way to start is to look at digital
collections available through libraires, archives, and museums.
The Railroad: An Example
The men in my paternal line, worked for railroad companies
in Massachusetts, Texas, and California. If I wanted to start my research on
the rail industry, I would need to ask a question and narrow my focus as I
begin with the last generation and move backwards in time.
Let’s say I want to start with my grandfather who worked for
the Southern Pacific Railroad in Southern California. My research question
might be “what digitized items exist for the Southern Pacific Railroad?” To
tell a story fully, I need historical context and a better understanding of the
railroad and what it was like to work for the railroad. Initially, I might look
for sources like images, newspapers, documents; information about specific
railroad jobs; and “material culture items,” tools and artifacts such as track
gauges, switch brooms, metal whistles, etc. While searching by name is
necessary for genealogy websites, you’ll want to expand to keyword phrases that
describe the occupation or location when you research library, archive, and
museum websites.
I’m going to start my search on a website that is a large,
collaborative digital collection, Digital Public Library of America. Because this is a collaborative
website, digitized items are held by institutions across the United States,
expanding the relevant materials I might find.
To begin I’m going to search using the keywords “Southern
Pacific” and see what results I find. However, keep in mind I could use other
terms as well including “Railroad” “California Railroad” “Railroad Engineer.”
A search on the keyword phrase “Southern Pacific” returned
over 19,000 hits. To narrow this list down, I’ll use the website tools to the
left of the results and select “images” and also restrict the results by date
to between 1940 and 1980, the decades my grandfather worked for the railroad.
Those changes focused my search down to over 1,800 images, a
number that is more manageable. I could narrow that search even more but for
now, I’m going to work with what I have.
I’m noticing that there are quite a few images from
Sacramento. My grandfather worked in Southern California, but the images from
Sacramento and other locations might provide some historical context such as
what railroad workers wore and what the trains looked like at a certain time.
As I continue my research, I can change my results, so they
include text, or even a physical object. This will help me as I gather
digitized items to tell the story of my grandfather’s work.
The option “How Can I Use It?” can further refine the scope
of the search to fit specific usage permissions. This is useful when I’m
considering publishing what I find online or in a book. Items that do not have
a “fair use” clause can still be used with permission from the participating
repository.
What Did Your Ancestor Do?
Adding historical context through digital collections can be
useful even when you are unable to find employment records or personal
information about your ancestor’s occupation. For example, my maternal
grandmother worked for an airplane factory during World War II, but so far I
haven’t found any photographs or documents of her employment. Nonetheless,
finding images of women doing “Rosie the Riveter” work can help to illustrate
her story.
Part of family history research entails finding materials
that provide historical context for our ancestors’ lives. The ways in which
your ancestors earned their living defined a significant part of their
lives. Researching their occupations— through
images, material culture, and documents—helps you to fill in this essential
piece of their story in an engaging way that will interest your family.
Continued research could include a specific repository with materials from the
location your ancestor worked, or writing to that company (if they still exist)
and asking about records of your ancestor’s employment. Who knows, you may hit
gold like a friend who found a PDF of the final newsletter, The Seaweed
Gazette, published January 15, 1946, by M.S. John Ericcson, a US hospital ship
and converted Swedish luxury cruise ship, on which her father served as a First
Sergeant in the US Army Medical Corps during World War II.
--Gena Philibert-Ortega
