For Joan Shurtliff, vice president of the Seward County Genealogical Society, history is not just about the past—it’s about the present.
At the Genealogical Society, Shurtliff gathers pieces of a historical puzzle, organizing old birth certificates, yearbooks, marriage licenses and other documents to create a picture of what Seward County has been and who its people were.
She loves finding new pieces of the puzzle and making new connections between parts of history, comparing her work to that of a detective.
“It’s the thrill of the chase,” she said.
As she analyzes the past, she sees patterns repeating themselves and notices that most things really aren’t so new.
For example, reading the stories of past veterans and the symptoms they displayed after coming home from war mirrors the stories we see in veterans today—only now we have a name for these symptoms (PTSD) and a better understanding of how to treat them.
“Things don’t just start, they evolve,” Shurtliff said.
In her work at the Genealogical Society, Shurtliff focuses on family history and helping people figure out who their ancestors were.
“A lot of the time, as you get older, you get more interested in where your family came from and how you got to be you,” Shurtliff said.
Helping people learn about their history isn’t just fun for her, it’s necessary.
“A lot of people find history really boring, and I’m not going to disagree because I’ve sat through a lot of history class lectures. But one of the things with genealogy is you want to get into the stories of families and how different issues may affect the family,” Shurtliff said.
She noted that events in a family’s history “can have an effect for two or three or four generations,” and that knowing where and who we come from can help us understand our present more clearly.
“There’s so many stories, and every family has them,” Shurtliff said.
During Seward County Gives 2025, the Seward County Genealogical Society raised just over 30% of their $2,000 goal, which will go toward archival materials and boxes to store and organize their documents.
In addition to monetary donations, the Genealogical Society accepts donations of historical documents to add to their collection: yearbooks, birth certificates, baptismal records, marriage licenses, school contracts, scrapbooks and more.
To learn more, visit their Facebook page or their website at usgenwebsites.org/NESeward. The Genealogy House is at 233 Jackson Ave. and is open Thursdays 10 a.m. – 2 p.m., Fridays 3 – 5 p.m., first Saturdays 11 a.m. – 1 p.m. or by appointment.
