Family history is more than genealogy

Names, dates and relationships matter. But families are also made of photographs, recipes, sayings, letters, traditions, jokes, turning points, migrations, homes, work, celebrations and ordinary memories that may never appear in an official record.

Family Histories gives those pieces a place to live together instead of being scattered across boxes, phones, cloud drives, email threads and different branches of the family.

Why preserve stories now?

Family knowledge is fragile. A photograph can survive for a century while the names of the people in it disappear in one generation. A recipe can remain in a drawer after nobody remembers who first made it. A parent or grandparent can carry decades of stories that have never been recorded.

The goal is not to create a perfect archive before you begin. It is to start preserving the information that could otherwise be lost.

What Family Histories helps preserve

• Personal and family stories
• Old photographs and scanned documents
• Recipes and family traditions
• Letters, cards and newspaper clippings
• Immigration, military and work histories
• Family homes, farms and cottages
• Cultural and community traditions
• Audio and video memories

Respecting family and cultural knowledge

Not every story should automatically be made public. Some family memories are private. Some Indigenous or cultural knowledge may be sacred, seasonal, community-specific or intended only for certain people. Family history should be preserved with care, consent and respect for the wishes of the people and communities involved.

A living archive, not a finished book

Family history changes as new photographs surface, relatives remember details and younger generations ask new questions. Family Histories is built around the idea that an archive can keep growing as the family grows.

Start with How It Works, explore Ways to Use It, or browse the Family History Guides.