TELLING HER STORY A Guide to Researching and Writing About Women of the Past by Sharon DeBartolo Carmack came out late last year, but I didn’t know about it until a genea-buddy of mine, Susan, shared this book with me.

I was interested enough that I bought it for my own reference shelf.

The Contents section is very detailed, but here are the main points:

Contents

Foreword
Preface
Introduction

Part I: Getting Started
Chapter 1 Who Was She?: Determining Her Maiden Name and Parents

Part II: Sources with Unique Information About Women
Chapter 2 What They Said About Her: Sources Created About Women
Chapter 3 What She Said About Herself
Chapter 4 Additional Sources for Some Ethnic Women
Chapter 5 Research Techniques: Brick Walls and Pitfalls
Chapter 6 Case Studies

Part III: What Will You Say About Her? Writing Women’s Life Stories
Chapter 7 Researching Her Daily Life: Women’s Social Histories
Chapter 8 What Type of Story Will You Write?
Chapter 9 Finding Conflict ad Keeping the Story Going
Chapter 10 Historical Context and Speculative Writing
Chapter 11 Citing Sources
Chapter 12 Revision, Restructuring, Editing, and Proofreading

Part IV: Learning by Example
Introduction
Chapter 13 Annotated Essays

Resources, Notes and Index
Glossary
Appendix: Source Checklist for Researching Women
Notes
Select Bibliography
Acknowledgements
Index
About Marsha Hoffman Rising
About the Author

This is a fabulous resource for anyone who wants to tell the stories of their ancestors. Although Carmack has highlighted the importance of sharing women’s stories, every suggestion, resource, technique and case study can be applied to genealogical research of children and men, too.

This book isn’t geared towards the beginning genealogist, but that’s not to say that an enthusiastic newbie couldn’t benefit. The concern might be that they would feel overwhelmed, but it works just as well as a reference and teaching tool for those just beginning their family history journeys as for those who are more experienced and have been exposed to most of the sources mentioned in each chapter.

I can’t make enough positive comments about the contents of this hefty (372 pages) volume that is jam-packed with knowledge.

Every type of record that one could think of – and more – is discussed in relation to how each helps develop the story of a female ancestor. Added to all the resource suggestions are multiple case studies, which provide examples of effective ways to present information and to do so in a manner that draws in the reader making them want to learn more about each person profiled.

Chapter 4 offers specialized suggestions for African-American, Native-American, Jewish-American and Irish-American women.

Chapter 5 presents a plan for attacking brick walls.

Many times, appendices at the back of books are overlooked as just “stuff” that needs to be included. Not so with Telling Her Story.

Readers will constantly refer to an eight-page checklist of sources to be sought out when compiling details of a particular female in the family.

The Select Bibliography is 26 pages long and the Notes (footnotes) are another 19 pages. Both of those lists provide a wide selection articles and books for further learning.

Every page in this book is necessary!

Sharon DeBartolo Carmack has written a comprehensive guide on how to research and present the life stories of our female ancestors and I predict that this book will become a “how to” classic.

I can’t recommend this book too highly – every serious researcher should purchase a copy of this book and refer to it often

Telling Her Story, A Guide to Researching and Writing About Women of the Past was published in 2024 by ScatteredLeavesPress.com and can be purchased online at that well-known shopping website for an extremely reasonable $24.99. Prime members get free shipping.