GenealogyClassBlog

At the Cherokee Ancestry Conference on Saturday I described the critical part of family history research — the evidence — and I identified some resources for understanding how to cite sources. The title of the talk was, “How Do You Know? understanding Evidence and Source Citations,” because we really do need to know what we can believe about ancestors.

I told the attendees that I would be posting some additional information here on the GenealogyClassBlog. I hope that it will be helpful to all genealogy students, whether in attendance at the seminar or not.

Realizing that there are mistakes in online family trees, and even in published genealogies, we discussed the importance of making sure that our work is correct before we share it with others. Standards for Sound Genealogical Research, from the National Genealogical Society, may be found here. Note that the document is in PDF format and requires Adobe Acrobat Reader or Apple’s Preview to read it. At this same site, there is a link to download another related document developed by the National Genealogical Society, “Guidelines for Genealogical Self-Improvement and Growth.”

The Genealogical Proof Standard is described at the web site of the Board For Certification of Genealogists. The Genealogical Proof Standard is the current standard genealogists should use in determining whether the evidence supports a conclusion, especially when there is no direct evidence. This page also provides the process you would use to determine how to reach a conclusion based upon the Genealogical Proof Standard.

I would also recommend reading a Skillbuilding article, called “Guidelines for Evaluating Genealogical Resources,” by Linda Woodward Geiger for an explanation of how sources provide the information that becomes our evidence.

I will be presenting this same program for the Tulsa City County Library on Saturday, July 23, but expanded to an hour and a half, beginning at 1:00 pm. Following that lecture, I will be introducing a new program I am calling “Genealogy Using DNA: First Steps” from 2:45 to 4:15.

I will write again soon with links to genealogy blogger discussions about source citations in genealogy software programs and about additional genealogy programs. Here is a link to the downloadable flyer for Family History Month at the Tulsa City County Library. This form will also require Adobe Acrobat Reader or Preview for viewing.

Hardesty Regional Library

The Tulsa City-County Library is offering some great programming for July again this year, during what it calls Family History Month. Download a copy of the beautiful, new, July Event Guide for the complete schedule as well as an interesting article about Linda Colvard and her help with adoption cases, Or go to the library’s Events page to see what programs are scheduled for the rest of July.

On Tuesday, 27 July, I will be presenting “What’s New With FamilySearch?” from 6:30 to 8:30 at the Hardesty Regional Library, 8316 E. 93rd St. in Tulsa. FamilySearch, also known as the online face of the Family History Library in Salt Lake City, is a free website that is fairly easy to use even before attending a class. But there is much more to FamilySearch now that they have enhanced and improved it in the last two years. I look forward to exploring it with you on the 27th.

Last night I attended a very interesting program presented by Dr. Mary Larson from Oklahoma State University on oral history (more on that later), and on Saturday seventy people were in the audience with me as Meg Hacker of Fort Worth’s Southwest Regional Branch of the National Archives introduced us to what genealogists can find, how to access descriptions of collections, and how to use some online databases at their website — www.archives.gov. Both of these were held at Hardesty, as will most of the remaining programs for the month. This is a major change from the past, but the move from to Hardesty was necessary so that there will be more room and chairs for the large number of people who attend these programs every July.

This Saturday, though, the programs will be held at Central Library because the speakers will be featuring the collections of Tulsa City-County Library’s Research Center, where you can find city directories, maps, the vertical files, high school yearbooks, newspapers, and other little-known treasures for local research. See the descriptions of both the morning and afternoon sessions, to be held in Aaronson Auditorium on the first floor. There will be an open house on the fourth floor between the sessions. Parking should not be a problem on Saturday because of all of the unused metered spaces nearby. I hope to see you there.