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“Well, take e-mail for example. People don’t write to each other anymore, do they? Once my generation’s gone, the written letter will be consigned to social history. Tell me, Jefferson. When did you last write a letter?â€� Tayte had to think about it. When the occasion came to him, he smiled, wide and cheesy. ‘It was to you,â€� he said. ‘I wrote you on your sixtieth birthday.â€� ‘That was five years ago.â€� ‘I still wrote you.â€� Marcus looked sympathetic. ‘It was an e-mail.â€� ‘Was it?â€� Marcus nodded. ‘You see my point? Letters are key to genealogical research, and they’re becoming obsolete. Photographs are going the same way.â€� He looked genuinely saddened by the thought. ‘How many connections have you made going through boxes of old letters and faded sepia photographs? How many assignments would have fallen flat without them?â€� ‘Too many,â€� Tayte agreed. ‘I can’t see genealogists of the future fervently poring over their clientsâ€� old e-mails, can you? Where’s the fun in that? Where’s the excitement and the scent of time that so often accompanies the discovery?â€� He had Tayte there, too. Tayte’s methods were straight out of the ‘Marcus Brown School of Family History.â€� Tripping back into the past through an old letter and a few photographs represented everything he loved about his work. It wouldn’t be the same without the sensory triggers he currently took for granted.”