About Russ Harward

I majored in Communications in college and developed skills in communicating with people over many years. I have been collecting, editing, writing, and producing family stories for several years in family story books and videos.

My passion is helping people come to know about the lives of their forefathers. Knowing the stories behind the genealogical data helps that data come to life and is far more interesting especially for young people. We have several different ways to preserve our stories today but that was not true many years ago. Then pen and paper was the most available source. Family history was recorded in journals and we are lucky if we have that. Some people only have stories handed down verbally from generation to generation.

Today we have so many ways to preserve and share our stories that the technology can become intimidating to the older generation among us. I say that because "old" is relative and I have a lot of old relatives. Being a "babyboomer" puts me in the "old" category or at least that is what my children tell me. The older I get the more I see the value of preserving life's experiences in story form. I treasure the writings, pictures, recordings, and especially home movies bringing back memories of those no longer with us.

The best case scenario is to bring those media together into one. For now that is on a DVD. I will share some ideas about how to share our stories in future postings along with examples.