The Long Way to a Hood: Reflections on Finishing My PhD at Strathclyde
- Shannon Bennett
- Jul 27
- 4 min read
There is a very particular silence that falls in between the moment your name is read out and the moment the tam is touched to your head. Ordinarily, it lasts perhaps three seconds, but for me it was a bit longer (see the video). Mine contained roughly five years of archive visits, abandoned chapters, and arguing with my computer at two in the morning.
On 1 July 2026, I graduated from the University of Strathclyde with a PhD in History with Genealogical Studies. My thesis, Who Counts as an Ancestor? Technological Advancement, Documentary Evidence, and Changing Genealogical Standards in American Lineage Societies, 1970 – 2020, is finished, deposited, and (a fact I am still adjusting to) no longer something I am doing. It is something I did.
I have written a great deal about other people's lives. It feels strange to turn the lens around. But since more than one of you has asked what a genealogy PhD actually involves, here is the honest version.
Why I Started
I came to Strathclyde already working as a professional genealogist. That is worth saying plainly, because the assumption is often that a doctorate is where you go to learn the craft. Or you have to be young to pursue it. Neither is true. I had reached the edge of what practice alone could answer. Plus, I had just finished my MSc with Strathclyde, COVID had hit, and I needed something to do.
Strathclyde's genealogical studies program is, right now, the only place in the world where genealogical questions are taken seriously as doctoral-level scholarship rather than an enthusiast's hobby. That mattered enormously to me, and it still does.
The Middle Years, Which Nobody Photographs
Here is what the graduation photographs leave out. There was the archive trip to The Library of Congress that produced precisely nothing usable that I could not already find online. There was a chapter I rewrote too many times to count before admitting the argument underneath it was wrong. There was caring for my elderly father and placing him in hospice, which nearly ended the whole thing, except he made me promise I wouldn’t stop.
And there was the ordinary, unglamorous business of doing this alongside client reports, conference talks, and a family who deserved rather more of my attention than they got between 2020 and 2026. I graduated with my MSc the same year my oldest graduated from high school. My PhD was the year after my youngest did the same thing. They both seemed to understand the late nights and occasional research trips, during which I was not available to attend an event with them. Hanging over it all was my husband's unwavering support. Cheering me on to the end.
What the Research Actually Found
The short version: lineage societies are more involved in genealogy and the American public's history consciousness than people realize. I am not sure if all historians and researchers understand that.
The finding I keep returning to is the 2022 survey I conducted on trends and impressions of genealogy and lineage societies among participants and non-participants in each. I will be writing about that properly in a future post as it deserves more room than I can give it here.
What surprised me most was that I started out with one vision, only to end up somewhere else. I followed the research and the findings down a side alley and prayed that I did not screw that decision up along the way. I did not expect that going in.
What It Changed About How I Work
Doctoral research does something particular to your standards. It is no longer enough to find the record; you have to account for why that record exists, who created it, what it was for, and what it systematically leaves out. That habit has followed me straight back into my work, and I think it has made me a considerably more useful genealogist. Even if I am a slower one.
It has also made me far more comfortable saying “the evidence does not support that conclusion.” Which is not always what people like to hear, but is always what they are paying for.
For Anyone Considering It
This is a team effort; you are not in it alone. It is important to lean into family, friends, fellow students, and colleagues when you need a break. Or just a reality check.
It is longer hours (at times) than any brochure says. Plan accordingly, financially and
emotionally.
Your relationship with your supervisor matters more than your topic. Keep that in mind.
Being an experienced researcher helps less than you would think in year one, and more than you can imagine by year three.
Write badly and early. Reflective essays on everything you read are your research buddies. The chapter you are afraid to start is the one holding up the other four.
What's Next
Finding more stable employment would make my husband very happy. That and not as much volunteer work. Not sure I am going to do either. I am a giver, and pursuing higher education teaching is not easy to find. So, for now, I will keep doing what I have been doing. Just maybe more selectively.
But first, I am going to sleep.