My area of PhD study is US/UK marriages and couples.  Because the US is not just a former British colony, but also a country founded on British culture and customs, migration and intermarriage between the two countries is unique as well as complex.  The US and UK societies are similar, yet different.  What does this relationship look like through history when examined from the perspective of couples and how has it changed and evolved over time?  What historical events and trends impacted individual decisions to marry someone from another country?  What was it like to move to another country and what similarities and differences were there among different groups within society when deciding which partner would move?  While I am interested in the political history between the US and the UK, as well as the historical events and trends between the two countries, my primary focus is the individual lives and stories of the people.  I will examine statistics and numbers surrounding UK/US marriage trends from the end of the 19th century, throughout the twentieth century, and into the twenty-first century.  However, most importantly, I will also personalize those numbers by studying memoirs of individuals and conducting oral history interviews.  Immigration and marriage history is not just the legal joining of two people on a piece of paper filed with a government coupled with the movement of groups of people, it is the personal experiences of the people involved.  Personal experiences are the building blocks of history. Our personal experiences touch our hearts and souls and in essence, make us who we are.