Family history societies are a brilliant resource, but some are fighting for their survival. Rosemary Collins hears from the experts how they can safeguard their future
Almost every county in Britain has a local family history society. These organisations bring together family historians for monthly meetings, informative talks, fairs and more. They also provide a valuable service to the family history community by transcribing parish registers and other records and putting the transcriptions online for their members, and answering queries from anyone who wants to research an ancestor from the area. However, many family history societies are under threat.
Steve Manning is the chair of the Family History Federation (FHF; familyhistoryfederation.com), which represents local family history societies in England and Wales as well as national family history societies, although not all societies are members. He tells Who Do You Think You Are? Magazine, “The membership of family history societies in the UK has been in decline for some years, and now stands at about 70,000. Fifteen years ago it was double that number! But not all societies, or even categories of society, are suffering equally. For example, specialist areas such as the Families in British India Society (FIBIS; fibis.org), heraldry and the Anglo-Caribbean continue to demonstrate healthy membership growth. Conversely, many surname-based groups are really struggling to recruit new blood. County and locally based societies take the middle ground. But even then, some proactive organisations are doing really well but less innovative ones are fighting closure.”
Dearth Of Volunteers
He also says that there is a “very worrying” lack of members willing to take on the voluntary roles that keep societies running.
Dr Ken Nisbet, the chair of the Scottish Association of Family History Societies (safhs. org.uk), says that north of the border the membership of family history societies is stable overall, but he agrees that the worst problem affecting societies is a lack of volunteers: “They can’t get chairmen or secretaries or treasurers. They can’t get the officers, so they have to fold.”
Genealogist Dr Janet Few, who is the president of the FHF but speaking to WDYTYA? Magazine in a personal capacity, reveals that there is an additional problem with societies’ demographics.
“When I first went to a family history society in 1982, I was the youngest person there by about 30 years,” she says. “However, if I go to a face-to-face meeting now I’m still in the youngest 10 per ce
