Old books, old memories, and the Whitman Massacre

In the July, 1966 issue of The Denver Westerners Monthly Roundup there is a fascinating article called Adventures in Americana, by Clifford M. Drury.  Drury, once a pastor of the First Presbyterian Church of Moscow, Idaho, is a fine researcher in his own right.  He has a passion for the history of the Northwest, and it shows.  In the 1960s he began to nose around the history of the earliest white settlers of the northwest.  His technique is seldom used, but it works.  He asked.  He visited living descendents of early pioneers  Or he asked who were the oldest people living in the area, and walked up to their door and asked if they had old books and papers. 

Several times, he arrived just a little too late, after important documents or papers were tossed, or burned up in a fire. 

He collected some fascinating information on the Whitman massacre in this manner. 
Visit with your ancestors, and collect their memories. Write it all down.  Sit down with grandma and grandpa, and write names on the back of all of the old photographs.  One hundred years from now, you will be remembered fondly.