College degrees in genealogy should be commonplace. The field’s pursuit is more demanding than many academic endeavors, peer-reviewed journals publish advanced genealogical scholarship,[1] and credentialing programs since 1964 have certified genealogists whose work meets high standards.[2] The field has its own terminology, corpus of accumulated knowledge, honor society,[3] professional association,[4] codes of ethics,[5] and styles for compiling, writing, and citing.[6] A world-class library focuses exclusively on family history,[7] and libraries across America maintain significant genealogy collections. Practice that meets the field’s standards requires ethics, knowledge, and skill worthy of any college graduate. Genealogy has been accurately described as a “discipline”[8] and characterized as “rigor-ous.” [9]

Despite the above contextual factors, only one accredited university offers a degree program with a set curriculum in genealogy.[10] Many others are feasible, however, but their conceptualization raises broad questions. What purpose would they serve? What should their curricula cover? At what level should they be offered? How would they relate to genealogical credentialing bodies and existing professional practice? Proposing answers entailed reviewing the following:

• Scholarly articles and chapters concerning genealogy’s relationship to academia[11]
• The field’s most widely promoted and accepted standards—those of the Board for Certification of Genealogists[12] and the National Genealogical Society[13]
• Curriculum for the bachelor of arts degree in family history from Brigham Young University[14]
• Courses offered by major genealogical institutes of long standing—Samford University’s Institute on Genealogical and Historical Research,[15] the National Institute on Genealogical Research,[16] and the Salt Lake Institute of Genealogy[17]
• Offerings of credit-bearing non-degree programs with collegiate affiliations—the Heritage Genealogical College,[18] National Institute for Genealogical Studies,[19] and University of Washington[20]
• General genealogy textbooks[21]

Purpose, Audience and Outcomes

Curriculum—a course of study—does not exist in a vacuum. It supports a predetermined purpose, addresses a defined audience, and leads to planned outcomes. These factors provide a starting point for curriculum design in any field, including genealogy. Colleges and universities address the variables with two broad categories of programs operating under different paradigms:

• Academic programs emphasize students’ acquisition of a specific body of knowledge and general intellectual skills. Traditionally housed in colleges of arts and sciences, academic programs include the humanities, liberal arts, mathematics, laboratory and social sciences, languages, religion, and “pre-professional” programs. Such programs usually are not directly aligned with a profession—for example, they do not lead to a professional credential, and a profession’s accrediting body does not evaluate them. While graduates with certain academic majors may tend to follow careers in related fields (or attend graduate school), most have flexible career options. Academic programs operate usually at the undergraduate level, but graduate-level academic studies also lead to various career options, with college teaching perhaps chief among them.[22] The primary beneficiaries of academic programs are students.
• Professional-preparation programs emphasize graduates’ entrance to a specific occupation, including meeting its certification and licensing requirements. Typically housed in a university’s professional schools (“School of Business,” “Law School,” “School of Professional Studies,” etc.), these include technical fields (like archival or library science, computer technology, engineering, nursing, and teaching) and professional fields (like accounting, architecture, law, and medicine). Professional associations—and, in some cases, governmental bodies—evaluate and accredit or license these programs and schools. Although some professional-preparation programs are available at the undergraduate level, most are graduate programs. The ultimate beneficiaries are individuals and institutions whom future professionals will serve.[23]

Genealogy draws from many disciplines, as shown in Table 1. It is a complex subject, and its practitioners fill many roles, as listed in Table 2. Where does this diverse area fit in the above dichotomy?

In 1930, Donald Lines Jacobus, the founder of scholarly genealogy, said that the field requires “special knowledge and training directed toward discovering and establishing a correct lineage, by the critical utilization of dependable printed sources and … unpublished records”[24] and that “the professional genealogist should … be able to weigh evidence; to assemble in logical order a host of details; to construct hypotheses and test them.”[25] Elizabeth Shown Mills, arguably today’s foremost genealogist, reports that the field requires “almost scientific precision” [26] and that it is—

an interdisciplinary study of the development of individual families across generations—analyzing the dynamics of ethnicity, intermarriage, status, and migration in economic, legal, and social contexts; otherwise, the practice of genea-

Table 1 Fields Related to Genealogy
Agriculture Animal Husbandry Anthropology Applied Statistics Archeology Architecture Archival Science Anthropology Biography Cartography Civics Climatology Cultural Studies Demographics Diplomatics Economics Epidemiology Ethnic Studies Etymology Family Studies Folklore Genetics Geography	Government Herbology History Law Linguistics Logic Mathematics Medicine Military Science Molecular Biology Numismatics Onomastics Paleography Personal History Philology Phonetics Political Science Population Studies Prosopography Religion Sociology Women’s Studies

logy as a field of history, following the precepts of peer-reviewed scholarship;” [27]

and that its practitioners—

thirst for historical knowledge in all its cultural, economic, legal, religious, and social contexts…. They approach research with a commitment to standards and excellence…. They value the difference between gathering names and reconstructing lives.… Their research is exhaustive; they document carefully, evaluate evidence critically, and rely only on the best sources possible.”[28]

Thus, genealogy has elements of both academic and professional-preparation paradigms, as described above. However, its technical elements and its knowledge base appear to align it better with professional preparation than traditional academic study. Rather than covering genealogical knowledge for the sake of knowledge and developing general intellectual skills, post-secondary genealogy programs would develop specific knowledge and skills—expertise that can be described as both technical and professional. The ultimate beneficiaries of the preparation would be consumers of the genealogist’s work. The curriculum would address the profession’s standards and prepare graduates for its professional credentials.

This recommendation, however, seems to put academic genealogy in an ambiguous position. The field is most closely aligned with the social sciences, which traditionally follow an academic model with little vocational or technical emphasis. Genealogy could, however, be a hybrid, like a program preparing social workers in a college of arts and sciences sociology department. Even though most sociology departments are not directly accountable to a profession or even linked to an occupation, their social work programs seek accreditation and prepare graduates for social work licensure. Programs preparing school psychologists in humanities-oriented psychology departments are similarly profession-driven. In any case, although genealogy has two certifying programs administered by professional boards, it does not yet have a body that accredits programs or agencies.[29]

Scope Of Curriculum

Professional-preparation curricula typically address three broad areas:

• Methods, applied aspects of practicing the profession, including technical and technological skills, practical knowledge, and continuous growth
• Content, the profession’s knowledge base, including its history, principles, theories, constructs, structure, and resources, and its relationships to other professions and bodies of knowledge
• Ethics, affective aspects of plying the profession, including interpersonal relationships[30]

These areas should be balanced. Physicians, for example,

Table 2 Professional Roles Using Genealogical Expertisea
Abstractor Analyst Archivist Artifact Genealogist Author Book Vendor Client researcher Columnist Compiler Conference Planner Compositor Computer Specialist Consultant Credentials Evaluator Database Designer Desktop Publisher Document Authenticator Editor Family Historian Geneticist Heir Searcher Historian House Historian Indexer	Institutional Historian Lawyer Lecturer Librarian Lineage Society Worker Lobbyist Novelist Personal Researcher Photograph Analyst Photographer Preservationist Private Investigator Project Manager Proofreader Publisher Religious Historian Reviewer Scholar Society Administrator Software Developer Storyteller Talk-show Host Teacher Transcriber
aMany of these roles are addressed in Professional Genealogy: A Manual for Researchers, Writers, Editors, Lecturers, and Librarians (Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co.). Especially see, Elizabeth Kelley Kerstens, “Alternative Careers,” in ibid., 143–60.

acquire the ability to diagnose and treat many conditions (methods), study anatomy and physiology (content), and learn to treat patients humanely and confidentially (ethics). Likewise, genealogists should be able to solve many kinds of kinship-determination problems (methods), have knowledge of records and sources (content), and acquire the commitment to do so honestly and confidentially (ethics).

Genealogical Methods

In the 1920s, genealogists began promoting rigorous methodological standards for genealogical research.[31] They applied “scientific methods of study—specifically, thorough research, objective analyses, and careful documentation.”[32] These standards evolved throughout the twentieth century. In 2000, the Board for Certification of Genealogists, which had been credentialing genealogists since 1964, codified them into seventy-four standards for research, teaching, and continuing education.[33] These standards provide a framework for the methods portion of university-level genealogy curricula. The board’s standards can be distilled into fourteen performance areas:

1. Developing research questions and hypotheses, identifying sources that might answer the questions and prove or disprove the hypotheses, and locating repositories of those records, regardless of their distance from the place of interest (standard 5)
2. Conducting complete searches, including oral histories and interviews, artifacts, online and print publications, original and derivative records, and—when applicable—DNA (standard 19)
3. Documenting all sources consulted (standards 8–10, 17, 49, 53)
4. Care and handling of original source materials including records, photographs, gravestones, fabrics, and other media (standards 1–2)
5. Reading original materials, regardless of condition, handwriting, orthography, terminology, and language (standard 6), including analysis and correlation to interpret handwriting and determine authorship
6. Transcribing, abstracting, extracting, summarizing, indexing, and quoting genealogical records and sources (standards 11–15)
7. Analyzing and interpreting all kinds of genealogical source material (standards 6–7), including deriving from it all levels of evidence related to genealogical questions and applying evidentiary principles to determine the accuracy and value of each item of information (standards 20–22, 24–25, 30). This includes understanding the reason the record was created, the purpose for which it was used, applicable laws, any relevant calendar and chronology issues, and specialized and archaic terminology and concepts.
8. Developing biographical information from genealogical and nongenealogical sources to determine relationships, put ancestors in cultural, historical, and social contexts, and understand their lives and the times in which they lived (standard 51)
9. Comparing, correlating, and linking all kinds of genealogical information, sources, and evidence to determine accuracy, build cases, and create conclusions that meet the Genealogical Proof Standard (standards 20, 26–29, 31–34, 50)
10. Writing clearly, effectively, and accurately, including preparing reports of genealogical research results suitable for clients, courts, lineage societies, and other consumers; and developing databases, guides, articles, columns, and case studies (standards 11, 37–48, 52, 67–72)
11. Using standard formats for genealogical compilations (standard 52)
12. Designing presentations, handouts, lessons, courses, activities, and instructional materials to teach genealogy (standards 58–65)
13. Orally presenting genealogical information effectively (standards 57, 66)
14. Planning for continuing growth in areas of expertise and expanding expertise to additional geographic areas, ethnic groups, time periods, etc. (standards 73–74)

Ancestral kinship is central to genealogy and the methodology of kinship determination, as outlined above, should receive heavy emphasis in a genealogy curriculum, especially in a university-based professional-preparation program. Regardless of geographic, ethnic, chronological, or other specialty, all genealogists should have methodological competence that meets the field’s standards. Most genealogical education programs, however, give methodology relatively short shrift. For example, out of Brigham Young University’s thirteen requirements for its bachelor’s degree major in genealogy, only four—“Writing Family Histories,” “Professional Family History Research,” “Historical Research and Writing,” and a paleography course—appear to be primarily methodological. Given their emphasis on writing, these courses do not embrace the range of skills listed above. Continuing education programs, institutes, and conferences similarly tend to emphasize records and sources more than methodology—an imbalance that can prevent genealogists from determining ancestral kinships that records do not make obvious.

Genealogical Content

Genealogical methods are fairly generic—the skill set applied appropriately to a Jewish genealogical conundrum in Budapest can solve an Irish genealogical problem in Sydney. In contrast to the field’s methods, its broad knowledge-base demands specialization. Few researchers would be able to apply genealogical research standards equally to Hungarian and Australian records.

Jewish genealogical research encompasses knowledge of sources, repositories, and several languages. Futhermore, it requires familiarity with historical, cultural, geographic, political, social, and legal matters in nearly all of North America, most of Europe and South America, and parts of Africa, Asia, and Australia. Finally, it stretches from the dates of earliest record-keeping to the present. Researchers realistically can master the knowledge base of only a few geopolitical areas, linguistic regions, and time periods. Specialized genealogy does, however, share the field’s general genealogical content knowledge.

Location-specific Content

Even when emphasizing Jewish genealogy, educational programs must focus on selected geopolitical, linguistic, and chronological specialties. Their students may specialize even more narrowly. Whatever the emphasis, the curriculum should include the following areas:

15. History of the time and place from local to national levels
16. Geography, geopolitical boundaries, and boundary changes; maps and mapping
17. Cultural and social customs and patterns
18. Languages in records of the time and place, and linguistic issues such as terminology, spelling variations, translations, language “mixtures,” transliterations, phonetics, orthographies, and indexing
19. Naming patterns, surname origins, etymologies, and onomastics
20. Migration patterns, paths, and theories, including “push” and “pull” factors and the dynamics of cross-cultural contact resulting from migration
21. Calendars and related chronological issues
22. Land policies, regulations, and practices
23. Laws, policies, practices, and terminology related to ages for various rights and obligations, censuses, gender, inheritance, land use and ownership, legal disputes, military service, moveable property, religion, slavery, taxation, vital records, and other genealogically relevant topics
24. Population policies, laws, and practices, including censuses and civil records of birth, death, marriage, divorce, and health, and the handling of famine, illegitimacy, illiteracy, oppression, poverty, slavery, and similar social factors
25. Military organizations from local to national levels, their activities and records
26. Print and electronic publications, including databases, indexes, compiled genealogies and records, and periodicals
27. The organization, structure, and content of records and sources of genealogical value, including those of courts and other governmental entities from local to national levels, religious bodies at all levels, institutions, societies and organizations, newspapers, occupations, and commercial enterprises (like merchant’s accounts and city directories); including record-specific factors (like gravestone symbols, land descriptions, and livestock marks)
28. Guides and finding aids for the above publications and records
29. Guides and manuals for research in the area of specialization
30. Archives, libraries, Internet sites, and other repositories holding the above records and publications; their access requirements and restrictions

General Content

Regardless of specialty, a comprehensive genealogy curriculum should address the following content areas:

31. Principles of scholarship and peer review
32. Genetic principles, issues, data, and inherited disorders and characteristics; the use of genetics and molecular biology in genealogical problem solving
33. The history of genealogical pursuit, research, and publication
34. The genealogical profession, its organizations, standards, credentials, and practices
35. Genealogical leaders, organizations, and publications
36. Genealogy’s specialized vocabulary, lexicon, jargon, conventions, and idioms
37. Business practices and career management for genealogists

Genealogical Ethics

Most professions have codes of ethics. They help their practitioners determine right and wrong behavior and their moral obligations as members of the profession. Study of ethical issues should be part of the curriculum for any professional field, including genealogy. Codes of ethics adopted by the Association of Professional Genealogists, Board for Certification of Genealogists, and National Genealogical Society cover the following areas: [34]

38. Knowing when and how to use—and not to use—others’ work products; understanding copyright and “fair use” nationally and internationally (standards 3–4)
39. Giving proper credit to those who supply information
40. Not publishing, sharing, or disseminating information about living people without their permission
41. Keeping personal and genealogical data confidential unless given permission to share it
42. Reporting findings honestly; avoiding bias or suppressing information that conflicts with a desired result; not publishing, sharing, or disseminating information that is known to be false
43. Handling information about criminal, immoral, or scandalous behavior sensitively if it might hurt living people
44. Treating original records with extreme care
45. Representing one’s expertise accurately
46. Supporting initiatives that protect public records and promoting access to them
47. Exposing instances of genealogical fraud
48. Treating other professionals, clients, and consumers courteously
49. Contributing to the field’s advancement

The above broad areas—methods, knowledge, and ethics—contain forty-nine curriculum components for genealogical study in a post-secondary setting. These elements are not equal in “weight,” however. Some—handling original documents, for example—might be addressed with a few hours of lecture and practical experience. Others—analyzing and interpreting genealogical evidence, for example—may require extensive study and practicum.

Academic Level

As shown in Table 1, genealogists draw from numerous academic disciplines. They also use a broad range of sources and apply higher-order thinking skills to their work. Such knowledge and intellect cannot be acquired quickly or easily. Genealogy can be “usefully studied” at the BA level, but not preferably—the depth and complexity of the curriculum outlined above and its professional-preparation orientation are more typical of a graduate degree.

Compared to fields like computer science, nursing, and teaching, in which professional preparation often occurs at the undergraduate level, genealogy is a highly literate profession in which practitioners regularly consume and contribute to its scholarly literature. More important, the level of research that genealogists undertake—which includes developing and testing hypotheses—is more comparable to that by holders of graduate degrees. Earning an undergraduate degree in history, or another of the social sciences listed in Table 1, followed by a masters degree in genealogy would be ideal preparation for this complex multidisciplinary profession.

Credentials

Like certification and licensure in any profession, genealogical credentials indicate the holder’s expertise and offer a measure of public assurance. Some professions’ boards formerly credentialed graduates of approved programs without evaluating certificants directly. This practice is rare today. Regardless of their educational preparation, aspirants to a professional credential must “sit” before a certifying or licensing board and pass its evaluation. Graduates of the curriculum suggested above would possess competence more than sufficient to meet the standards of the two genealogical credentialing bodies based in the United States:

• Board for Certification of Genealogists (BCG). Established in 1964, BCG evaluates portfolios designed to demonstrate applicants’ ability to conduct research, compile and report results, determine cross-generational kinships, and solve complex genealogical problems. Judges measure applicants’ work samples against the genealogical standards enumerated above as the basis for the methodological portion of a genealogy curriculum. BCG, therefore, emphasizes genealogical methodology, which cuts across geographic, ethnic, and chronological research specialties. Certificants hold the Certified Genealogist (CG) credential for five years, after which their skills are re-evaluated.[35] BCG also offers certification in genealogical teaching and lecturing. Most BCG certificants live in the United States, but Canada and Ireland are represented. Many conduct research in Europe, and five specialize in Jewish genealogy.
• International Commission for the Accreditation of Professional Genealogists (ICapGen). In 2000 the Family History Library, in Salt Lake City, transferred its genealogical credentialing program to ICapGen, which administers tests on five American regions, six international areas, and two subjects. Their tests are aligned more with the content portion of the curriculum described above than its methods portion. Certificants hold the Accredited Genealogist (AG) credential for five-year intervals.[36] Most live in Utah, but many states, Canada, and a few other countries are represented. ICapGen does not test a specialty in Jewish genealogy, and its directory does not identify certificants with this expertise.

Some genealogists hold credentials from both BCG and ICapGen. Genealogical certification programs also operate in Australia, Canada, England, France, Ireland, New Zealand, Scotland, and perhaps elsewhere.[37]

Conclusion

In 1930, America’s leading genealogist cast a critical eye on the state of genealogy:

Conditions in the genealogical profession are unsatisfactory. Any person, regardless of education, experience or natural ability, can set up to be a professional genealogist. No course of training is required, no examinations as to fitness have to be passed.[38]

The description could have been written today. Most American genealogists are unschooled, no governmental body regulates the practice of genealogy, credentials are optional, and anyone—even with no education or experience—can declare that he or she is a “genealogist.” Joining the Association of Professional Genealogists requires only paying dues and signing its code of ethics. [39]

Given these realities, why would someone recommend an intensive genealogy curriculum, and at the graduate level no less? Is advanced and demanding education feasible for a field in which expertise and standards are discretionary? Why should an educational program for genealogists have admissions and exit criteria? Why not allow any interested person to enter a genealogy education program?

Yet another reality is that most genealogical research and compilation is done badly. Objective reviewers regularly criticize the accuracy of genealogical books, and the Internet makes voluminous genealogical errors available to all. Many family historians, including some with professional standing, base their conclusions on inadequate indexes, haphazard and incomplete research, and poorly documented compilations and databases. They do not recognize that their results sometimes are erroneous and often partial or unnecessarily tentative. Many thorough researchers using reliable sources lack the expertise to recognize clues that could reveal generations beyond those that records specify directly. Many have no glimmer of what they do not know.

Despite these problems, genealogists at all levels of expertise share similar goals: they want to identify ancestors accurately, they want to understand their lives and circumstances, and they want to trace as far back as possible. Many also want to trace descendants down to the present. Only via a standards-based curriculum of the breadth and depth described above can these goals be achieved.

Summary Recommendations

1. Adopt a professional-preparation paradigm that is standards-based and prepares graduates for certification.
2. Include a strong methods component, based on genealogical standards.
3. Balance it with specialized and generic content.
4. Include ethics.
5. Offer the curriculum at the graduate level to students with an undergraduate liberal arts background.

Notes

[1]. The most-recognized scholarly genealogical journals in the United States are The American Genealogist, established in 1922; the National Genealogical Society Quarterly, established in 1912; the New England Historical and Genealogical Register, established in 1847; the New York Genealogical and Biographical Rec-ord, established in 1870; and The Genealogist, established in 1980. From 1984 through 2000 the National Genealogical Society Quarterly was housed at the University of Alabama; since 2002 it has been based at Gallaudet University, Washington, DC. Few articles on Jewish genealogy have appeared in the above journals, due primarily to lack of submissions.

      [2]. The Board for Certification of Genealogists, an independent organization established in 1964 by the American Society of Genealogists and the National Genealogical Society, offers the Certified Genealogist, Certified Genealogical Lecturer, and Certified Genealogical Instructor credentials. See <http://www.bcgcertfication.org>. Also in 1964, the Family History Library established a program to “accredit” professional researchers using its facility. In 2000 the library transferred the program to the International Association for the Accreditation of Professional Genealogists. See <http://www.icapgen.org>.

      [3]. The American Society of Genealogists, established in 1940, recognizes published genealogical scholarship. See <http:// www.fasg.org>.

      [4].   The Association of Professional Genealogists, established in 1975, is international in scope. See <http://www.apgen.org>.

      [5].   Certificants of the Board for Certification of Genealogists and the International Commission for the Accreditation of Professional Genealogists sign the same code. See “Appendix A—The Genealogist’s Code,” in Board for Certification of Genealogists, The BCG Genealogical Standards Manual (Orem, Utah: Ancestry, 2000), 29–31. Members of the Association of Professional Genealogists also sign a code. See “APG Code of Ethics,” Association of Professional Genealogists <http://apgen.org/ethics/index. html>.

      [6].   See, for example, Board for Certification of Genealogists, The BCG Genealogical Standards Manual; Joan Ferris Curran, Madilyn Coen Crane, and John H. Wray, Numbering Your Genealogy: Basic Systems, Complex Families, and International Kin (Arlington Va.: National Genealogical Society, 1999); and Elizabeth Shown Mills, Evidence Explained! Citing Historical Resources from Artifacts to Cyberspace (Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., 2007).

      [7].   The Family History Library in Salt Lake City, Utah, houses more than 2.4 million rolls of microfilmed genealogical records, 742,000 microfiche, 310,000 books, serials, and other formats, and 4,500 periodicals. See “Library,” FamilySearch <http://www. familysearch.org/Eng/Library/FHL/frameset_library.asp>.

      [8].   Robert Charles Anderson, “The Place of Genealogy in the Curriculum of the Social Sciences,” in Generations and Change: Genealogical Perspectives in Social History, Robert M. Taylor Jr. and Ralph J. Crandall, eds. (Macon, Ga.: Mercer University Press, 1986), 84.

      [9].   David Hackett Fischer, in “Genealogy and History: The Leah and Rachel of the Learned Disciplines,” The American Genealogist 72 (July/October 1997): 150, is one of several scholars from other fields who describe genealogy as “rigorous.”

      [10]. Brigham Young University has offered a bachelor’s degree in family history for many years. See “Family History,” Brigham Young University (http://history.byu.edu/family/index.htm).

      [11].  Anderson, “The Place of Genealogy in the Curriculum of the Social Sciences,” 79–108; Claire Mire Bettag, “Educational Preparation,” in Professional Genealogy: A Manual for Researchers, Writers, Editors, Lecturers, and Librarians, Elizabeth Shown Mills, ed. (Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., 2001), 15–42; Fischer, “Genealogy and History,” 148–57; David L. Greene, “Donald Lines Jacobus, Scholarly Genealogy, and The American Genealogist,” The American Genealogist 72 (July/October 1997): 159–80; Donald Lines Jacobus, “Genealogy as a Profession,” in Genealogy as Pastime and Profession (1930; rev. ed., Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1968), 40–44; Harry Macy Jr., “Recognizing Scholarly Genealogy and Its Importance to Genealogists and Historians,” New England Historical Genealogical Register 150 (January 1996): 7–28; Elizabeth Shown Mills, “Academia vs. Genealogy: Prospects for Reconciliation and Progress,” National Genealogical Society Quarterly 71 (June 1983): 99–106; Elizabeth Shown Mills, “Genealogy in the ‘Information Age’: History’s New Frontier?,” National Genealogical Society Quarterly 91 (December 2003): 260–77; and Eugene Aubrey Stratton, “Academia in Genealogy,” in Applied Genealogy (Salt Lake City: Ancestry, 1988).

      [12].  Board for Certification of Genealogists, BCG Genealogical Standards Manual.

      [13].  “Genealogical Standards and Guidelines,” National Genealogical Society <http://www.ngsgenealogy.org/comstandards. cfm>. The standards cover the following areas: “Sound Genealogical Research,” “Using Records Repositories and Libraries,” “Technology in Genealogical Research,” “Sharing Information with Others,” “Publishing Web Pages on the Internet,” and “Genealogical Self-Improvement and Growth.”

      [14]. “BA Family History,” Brigham Young University <http://history.byu.edu/family/ba_familyhistory.htm>.

      [15].  “Institute of Genealogical and Historical Research,” Samford University Library <http://www.samford.edu/schools/ ighr/>. The institute offers eleven concurrent one-week courses, some of which may be taken for college credit. Syllabus material from the 2005 and 2006 institutes is in the author’s files.

      [16]. National Institute on Genealogical Research <http:// www.rootsweb.com/~natgenin/>. The one-week course focuses on materials at the National Archives.

      [17].  “2005 Salt Lake Institute of Genealogy,” Utah Genealogical Association <http://www.infouga.org/site/images/stories/
uga_print_reg_form.pdf>. The institute offers ten concurrent one-week courses. Syllabus material from the 2004 and 2006 institutes is in the author’s files.

      [18]. “Bachelor Degree in Genealogical Research,” Heritage Genealogical College (http://genealogy.edu/moodle/mod/ resource/view.php?id=177). This enterprise, which recently ended its affiliation with Salt Lake Community College, is not an accredited institution of higher education.

      [19].  National Institute for Genealogical Studies <http://www. extension.washington.edu/ext/certificates/gfh/gfh_gen.asp>, affiliated with the continuing-education program at the University of Toronto, offers numerous online courses leading to certificates of completion in various genealogical specialties.

      [20].  “Certificate Program in Genealogy and Local History,” UW Extension <http://www.extension.washington.edu/ext/ certificates/gfh/gfh_gen.asp>. The University of Washington offers a handful of continuing-education night classes that do not count for degree credit.

      [21]. Val D. Greenwood, The Researcher’s Guide to American Genealogy, 3rd ed. (Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., 2000); Milton Rubincam and Ken Stryker Rodda, eds., Genealogical Research: Methods and Sources, rev. ed., 2 vols. (Washington, D.C.: The American Society of Genealogists, 1980–83); and Loretto Dennis Szucs and Sandra Hargreaves Luebking, The Source: A Guidebook to American Genealogy, 3rd ed. (Provo, Utah: Ancestry, 2006).

      [22]. Certification refers to a credential awarded to an individual who has passed a professional body’s evaluation, and a license is similarly awarded by a governmental entity. See Thomas W. Jones, “Certification—What Does it Really Mean?” Association of Professional Genealogists Quarterly 14 (December 1999): 166–68.

      [23]. This summary is based on the author’s thirty-five years of employment and experience in higher education, including service on accrediting and certifying bodies.

      [24]. Donald Lines Jacobus, “Book Reviews,” New Haven Genealogy Magazine 6 (1929–30): 1537–40, at 1538.

      [25]. Jacobus, Genealogy as Pastime and Profession, 44.

      [26]. Mills, “Genealogy in the ‘Information Age,’” 260. Mills argues for using the term “Generational History” to refer to genealogical scholarship and the academic study of genealogy.

      [27]. Ibid., 260, note 1.

      [28]. Ibid., 272.

      [29]. Accreditation refers to the approval of an educational program that meets defined standards. See National Association for Competency Assurance, “Glossary,” in Standards for the Accreditation of Certification Programs, electronic edition <http:// www.noca.org/ncca/docs/STANDARDS904.pdf>, 20. The International Commission for the Accreditation of Professional Genealogists’ use of accreditation to denote certification does not follow the term’s usual definition but avoids confusion with the Board for Certification of Genealogist’s certification program.

      [30].  For a recent articulation of these areas in a genealogical context, see Thomas W. Jones, “Genealogical Skillbuilding: The What, Why, and How” (lecture, annual conference of the National Genealogical Society, Chicago, 7 June 2006); syllabus material in National Genealogical Society Conference in the States: Program Syllabus (Arlington, Va.: privately printed, 2006), 5–8.

      [31].  Greene, “Donald Lines Jacobus, Scholarly Genealogy, and The American Genealogist,” 159–60.

      [32].  Mills, “Genealogy in the ‘Information Age,’” 262.

      [33].  Board for Certification of Genealogists, BCG Genealogical Standards Manual.

      [34].  “Appendix A—The Genealogist’s Code,” in Board for Certification of Genealogists, The BCG Genealogical Standards Manual; “APG Code of Ethics,” Association of Professional Genealogists <http://apgen.org/ethics/index.html>; and “Guidelines for Using Records Repositories and Libraries” and “Standards for Sharing Information with Others,” National Genealogical Society <http://www.ngsgenealogy.org/comstandards. cfm>.

      [35].  Board for Certification of Genealogists, The BCG Application Guide (Washington, D.C.: Board for Certification of Genealogists, 2005; and Board for Certification of Genealogists <http://www.bcgcertification.org> CG and Certified Genealogist are BCG service marks.

      [36].  International Commission for the Accreditation of Professional Genealogists, ICapGen <http://www.icapgen.org/index. html>. Accredited Genealogist and AG are ICapGen certification marks.

      [37].  Elizabeth Shown Mills, Paul F. Smart, Jimmy B. Parker, and Claire Mire Bettag, “Certification and Accreditation,” in Mills, Professional Genealogy, 45–58.

      [38]. Jacobus, “Genealogy as Pastime and Profession, 40.

      [39].  Kay Germain Ingalls and Elizabeth Shown Mills, “Have Checkbook—Am a Professional,” OnBoard: Newsletter of the Board for Certification of Genealogists 2 (September 1996): 17–18; electronic edition, Board for Certification of Genealogists <http://www.bcgcertification.org/publications/onboard/Article2. html>.

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Thomas W. Jones, PhD, holds Certified Genealogist and Certified Genealogical Lecturer credentials. Since 2002 he has edited the National Genealogical Society Quarterly, one of the field’s leading scholarly journals. He is a trustee and past president of the Board for Certification of Genealogists and a former trustee of the Association of Professional Genealogists. He has published more than twenty scholarly articles on genealogical research and made more than one hundred presentations on genealogical research methodology at more than thirty national, state, and regional conferences since 1997. He serves on the faculty of Samford University’s Institute of Genealogy and Historical Research, the Salt Lake Institute of Genealogy, and the National Institute on Genealogical Research. He was recently elected a Fellow in the American Society of Genealogists. In his non-genealogical life, he is professor of education at Gallaudet University in Washington, DC, where he has taught undergraduate courses in genealogy. The author thanks Claire Mire Bettag, CG, CGL; Donn Devine, JD, CG, CGI; Elizabeth Shown Mills, CG, CGL, FASG; and Melinde Lutz Sanborn, FASG, for reviewing a draft of this paper.