Over time, every family historian, (or history nut) will go back to a website they found, and find nothing. Sometimes there's a "memoriam note" indicating the person that wrote and maintained the website has passed, sometimes the domain is up for sale, and sometimes you just get crickets.... whatever the result you see, it didn't "just" go away. Like I mentioned, the death of the original "owner/operator" of the website, finances, shifting interest being just a couple of reasons, but the information from that website may not be lost to you... If you have an original URL, feed it to chatGPT, explain what it was about and sit back.... For my list of "need to watch video's" on research information I lost this really bonechilling video, or so I thought. I searched every possible way I know about to get a glimpse of where it might have gone, and finally just asked. "This URL used to point to a video on Pfc McCarn. Can't find it, can you?" and GPT came back with this:
pfcharoldbmccarn.com) is no longer active and is currently parked for sale. However, the film and the story created by his cousin, James Weatherly, have been preserved online. - Documentary Preview: You can watch the original trailer/preview on YouTube at Preview - The High Price of Freedom: PFC Harold B. McCarn. [1]
- Eyewitness Remagen Interview: A moving clip filmed for the documentary project featuring an impromptu interview with a veteran who crossed the Ludendorff Bridge can be viewed at Bridge at Remagen - An Eyewitness Account. [1]
- AWON (American World War II Orphans Network): The complete text detailing the search for Harold's grave, the emotional sand-rubbing ceremony at Henri-Chapelle, and his unit's history is hosted on the AWON James Weatherly Story Page. [1]
After that I asked: "You wouldn't happen to be able to see what happened to the original information since this is split over many different platform and sites?" This is where he gave the answer that prompted this post....
pfcharoldbmccarn.com) is a very common pattern for independent passion projects.
Now, having lost Mike not too long ago, being pushed into acknowledging my own demise, and what to do with all this information I'm collecting, that (in my eyes, at least) should be given to someone who would do something with it, use it and pass it on, this kinda hit home. I've been thinking about it, but haven't taken any steps to do something.... that's something for "later" and then the little shit on my shoulder whispers: "But what if there is no later? What will happen? Family will not know you put in thousands of hours collecting this stuff, or what you wanted to do with it. They won't even know where to start looking for a home for all this crap. You're lucky your physical books won't make it to the dump instead of a secondhand bookstore.... Your notebooks will go to the paperrecycling as well as all your records. All that information won't mean anything to them other than "More crap to clear, they'll look at your computer and external drives and decide to wipe them or repurpose them, because it's way older than they would be comfortable with using..." This is no way, shape or form a slam on the family. But I've seen it happen way too many times. The last parent dies, and the kids are overwhelmed. They don't have the foggiest what meant anything to their parents anymore, they can only go by what it means to them. Now imagine my situation...and it's not even that special. We don't have kids, so they haven't sat in our house, heard us talk about finding information, or seen the happy dance when I found one obscure little blurp in an unrelated document, that justified 50 hours of research... On top of (hopefully?) grief, they have to deal with a landlord that wants the house empty within 30 days of kicking the bucket, a shitton of stuff and legitimate paperwork to deal with and their own family life....and I can't even blame them. But as a third party looking in, it hurts to see prized posessions be thrown in a dumpster without a second thought. (That's a thing living in a retirement community tought me–Neigbor dies, family comes in, dumpster gets filled, new renter comes in....)
Where I'm trying to get to, is not "get rid of everything, because it's going to the dump anyway" or "don't pursue what makes you happy, because it serves no purpose" it's MAKE ARRANGEMENTS FOR YOUR RESEARCH FOR IF YOU'RE NOT ABLE TO TAKE CARE OF IT ANYLONGER.
Good friends of ours have taken their family tree information and donated the raw data to the historical/genealogy society. They kept some information they're "still working on", the original photographs and the printed family tree, and put in their will, that when the last of them passes away, and the family don't want to keep it, to bring it to the same society as addition to the information already there, with a specified list of what is included. They're not sure whether their information will be publicly accessible or stored, but they DO know, if somebody comes asking whether there is any information on their family name, they will be able to access it. I think that is an awesome way to ensure your hard work is not for naught. (I also know that will have a HELL of a task ahead of me if I want to organize my out of control, labor of love within the forseeable future.... I may even be hoping for a looooooong winter with nowhwere to go! LOL!) Do with this what you want, but give it a thought, regardless wether you are 25 or 65 :-) and at the very least, put something in writing if you don't want to do the work yet. You'd do it for grandma's silver weddingband, why not for what has your passion?
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