John D. Reid yesterday launched his annual, fun — and sometimes controversial — rockstar genealogist poll on his blog, Canada’s Anglo-Celtic Connections.
According to John, “Rockstar genealogists are those who give ‘must attend’ presentations at family history conferences or as webinars, who when you see a new family history article or publication by that person, makes it a must buy. If you hang on their every word on a blog, podcast or newsgroup, or follow avidly on Facebook or Twitter they are likely Rockstar candidates.”
Canadians disappointed last year
Some rockstar genealogist results in the past have become a bit controversial. Not everyone agreed with who made it to the top ten — and who didn’t.
John D. Reid encourages genealogists to “keep calm” when they vote — and when they read the results.
Last year, Canadians, in particular, were disappointed that only three of us were recognized by our fellow citizens. (I was among those who tried to figure out why more of us weren’t among the top ten, especially the top ten as voted by Canadians.)
In the blog post, published last year, Where (and Why) Are Canadian Genealogists Hiding?, Lorine McGinnis Schulze offered a reason for the lack of Canadians. She wrote: “I believe part of the problem is that we Canadians are just not very well known, even in our own country. We don’t promote ourselves and we need to do that.”
Less than 1 in 5 nominees are Canadian
Another reason for the less-than-desirable showing at the international level is that Canadians represent a relatively small number. This year, for example, less than 20 percent of the more than 150 English-speaking genealogists nominated are Canadian. I suspect the percentage was similar last year.
Or is it just a case that we in Canada are fortunate to be exposed to a lot of great genealogical talent from around the world, and we simply like to show them our appreciation by voting for them?
The best part about last year’s Canadian controversy is it generated a lot of positive — and polite — discussion on social media about the need to better recognize, promote, and mentor our fellow citizens.
Vote
So, vote and tell your friends to vote. And when the results are revealed, take a deep breath and keep calm, eh.
Since so many of my ancestors were very early New England ancestors, and my most recent ancestors came in the early 1900s to Canada, I have had very little need to use Canadian genealogists/their knowledge in my research.
That may be true of other Canadians as well. Both reasons likely feed into the limited Canadian genealogists’ nominations.
I’ve also learned a great deal about the genealogy process from a number of genealogists from other countries… there’s much to learn from everyone.
You raise an interesting point, Celia, although many Canadian genealogists talk about British, Irish, and DNA research, and methodology, in addition to Canadian genealogy. I think it is also a case of numbers. The US population is 10X greater than ours. Britain’s is twice the size of ours. In any event, I like looking at all the names and looking up those that are not familiar to me.