The power of the small scale or local timeline
Many local history societies have created small scale time lines for a local area using local knowledge and help to build them. In this way the time line can provide extraordinary detail not just about the location but about individuals that lived or worked there as well.
This is a marvelous opportunity for local historians to pull together their collective resources. If the timelines can be made to be interactive as well, all the better.
Some timelines can be simple and reflect local events in a linear way
An example of this is the Lea Valley and Sheredes site. This approach can be an excellent way to collect data together quickly and simply and gets a project off the ground.
If you want to think bigger than a linear timeline
Take a look at the Herts Memories website to understand the scale of what could be achieved when a community pull together to record a mass of disparate data, it’s quite exciting.
How about creating your own family timeline and meshing it with national and international events?
At Intriguing Family History we are keen to explore resources that can help you with the narrative of your family history story and timelines are an important tool that helps us achieve this. We like to take it a step further and rather than just list the event, prompt discussion about the implications of that event on your family.
You may be an organisation or a club, keen to collect and capture events that surround your activity
A timeline can be a great way to start capturing data. Once the word gets out it’s surprising what a lot of great memories, photos and ephemera people have been hanging onto and it’s a superb way to share. See how the 49th Hertfordshire Regiment have organised their timeline.
The possibilities are endless
Take a look at a timeline of the events surrounding the assassination of President John F Kennedy