PLENARY SESSION

Thursday, 28 May 2026, 8:00 am ET

How Learning about the Past Can Change the Future: Family Stories and Intergenerational Identity

Sunny Jane Morton, Editor of NGS Magazine

As we commemorate America at 250, our gaze swings from the past to the future…and passes squarely through the present. Our own stories, which are now unfolding, are influenced by our inner narrative about who we are, which itself is influenced by our sense of intergenerational identity. While we can’t change the past, we can reshape our sense of intergenerational identity to more constructively serve our futures and that of rising generations. Sunny illustrates these principles by sharing powerful family stories from the Great Johnstown Flood of 1889, the Spanish flu pandemic, and the polio crisis of the mid-1900s that helped her reframe her inner narrative and identity in empowering ways. Attendees will see how they can also shape a more intentional, constructive sense of intergenerational identity from their own family stories.

Sunny Jane Morton is the Editor of NGS Magazine; a Contributing Editor at Family Tree Magazine; and a past Editor of Ohio Genealogy News. She is co-author of How to Find Your Family History in U.S. Church Records, which received a book award from the National Genealogical Society, and author of the forthcoming Searching for Sisters: A Guide to Researching Catholic Nuns in the United States. Her book Story of My Life: A Workbook for Preserving Your Legacy is now in its 2nd edition. She is an instructor for GRIP Genealogy Institute, the Salt Lake Institute of Genealogy, and Family Tree University.