DearMYRTLE - Internet Genealogy Pioneer
December 2008 by Robert
Myrtle (Pat Richley) truly is a dear person.
DearMYRTLE has been online since 1995 and involved with all kinds of online genealogy helps and projects.
In fact, she is a pioneer in genealogy audio training on the Internet.
I came to know her by phone and email in the early 2000s when I did an interview with her for her Internet genealogy radio broadcasts.
To this day, I don’t know how she pulled this off (she’s a smart lady, though) but long before “podcasts” and before audio on the Internet became more common, Myrt was broadcasting an online genealogy radio show to millions and millions of people - live.
I think this is some sort of record and she qualifies to be in the Guinness World Records book.
Today she has a very helpful and informative blog:
- See: DearMYRTLE’s blog
And is still doing audio genealogy instruction and interviewing the top movers and shakers in the genealogy world - through podcasts.
- Take a look at her collection of “Family History Hour genealogy podcast” shows.
You should bookmark that link, too.
I read with interest your blog entry about my Mom, Pat Richley, the creator of DearMYRTLE.
Checking Ol’ Myrt’s bio — she has been into online genealogy activities since the winter of 1984-1985, when she first signed on to Q-Link (the grandfather of AOL). There she began attending and later helped develop the chats and forums in Your Family Tree, which evolved into AOL’s Genealogy Forum. I remember saying good night to mom as she was participating in an online chat — and hearing her echo “Goodnight, I love you” about 15 minutes later.
So while Mom (err… Myrt) didn’t develop the nom de plume DearMYRTLE until 1995, she certainly participated in and promoted online family history activities a good ten years before the 1995 date mentioned in your blog entry. See: http://www.dearmyrtle.com/about.htm
You’ve also missed looking into her work in SecondLife. See:
http://blog.dearmyrtle.com/2008/04/get-second-life-genealogists.html
Thanks for clearing that up, Carrie.
I know Pat has been going a long time online, but I did mean the “Myrtle” persona since 1995. That’s also when the Treasure Maps site started so it sticks in my mind.
You know, I have a hard time thinking of her as Pat. It has always been Myrt to me, even on the phone.
The genealogy activity on SecondLife still floors me. I first heard about that on a DearMYRTLE post and predict that it will really start popping in 2009. If Myrt doesn’t make an SecondLife how-to for online genealogy researchers, who might be wary (if you look at some SecondLife promos - you know what I mean), then I am going to have to. Tell her I am waiting….
Bless you, Carrie. I know you’ve got to be proud of your Mom. She does rock!