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    Genealogy Standards: Millenium Edition
    Genealogy Standards: Millenium Edition
    Genealogy Standards: Millenium Edition
    Ebook176 pages1 hour

    Genealogy Standards: Millenium Edition

    By Board for Certification of Genealogists

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    About this ebook

    Family historians depend upon thousands of people unknown to them. They exchange research with others; copy information from books and databases; and write libraries, societies, and government offices. At times they even hire professionals to do legwork in distant areas and trust strangers to solve important problems. But how can a researcher be assured that he or she is producing or receiving reliable results? This official manual from the Board of Certification for Genealogists provides a standard by which all genealogists can pattern their work.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherAncestry.com
    Release dateAug 1, 2000
    ISBN9781618589583
    Genealogy Standards: Millenium Edition

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      Book preview

      Genealogy Standards - Board for Certification of Genealogists

      e9781618589583_cover.jpge9781618589583_i0001.jpge9781618589583_i0002.jpg

      445 Park Avenue, 9th Floor

      New York, NY 10022

      Phone:(212)710-4338 Fax: (212)710-4339

      200 4th Avenue North, Suite 950

      Nashville, TN 37219

      Phone: (615)255-2665 Fax: (615)255-5081

      www.turnerpublishing.com

      Library of Congress Caologing-in-Publication Data

      The BCG genealogical standards manual

      p. cm.

      Includes index

      ISBN 0-916489-92-2

      1. Genealogists—Certification. 2. Board for Certification of Genealogists (Washington, D.C.)—

      Handbooks, manuals, etc. I. Board for Certification of Genealogists.

      (Washington. D.C.)

      CS8.5 .B38 2000

      929’.1--dc

      21 00-023694

      Copyright © 2000 Board of Certification of Genealogists

      P.O. Box 14291

      Washington, D.C. 20044

      Published by Turner Publishing Company

      with permission of ncestry.com

      All rights reserved.

      Board for Certification of Genealogists is a registered service mark of the Board for Certification of Genealogists, a District of Columbia not-for-profit corporation. The following are service marks fo the corporation, used under license by board-certified associates after periodic competency evaluations: Certified Genealogist, CG; Certified Lineage Specialist, CLS; Certified Genealogical Records Specialist, CGRS; Certified Genealogical Instructor, CGI; and Certified Genealogical Lecturer, CGL. Other service marks for former categories that have been consolidated, including CALS and CAILS, may remain in use for the remainder of current five-year certification periods.

      No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form without written permission of the publisher, except by a reviewer, who may quote brief passages for a review.

      9781618589583

      First printing 2000

      10

      Printed in the United States of America

      Table of Contents

      Title Page

      Copyright Page

      INTRODUCTION

      RESEARCH STANDARD

      TEACHING STANDARDS

      GENEALOGICAL DEVELOPMENT STANDARDS

      APPENDIXES

      INDEX

      INTRODUCTION

      WHEN STANDARDS Apply

      Genealogists adhere to principles of competence, regardless of whether the results of their studies are communicated orally (in lectures and courses) or in writing (published in print or electronic format, privately circulated among family members or correspondents, reported to clients or employers, or placed in one’s own research files). These standards of competence extend to all phases of a research project:

      Collecting the information;

      Evaluating the evidence; and

      Compiling the results.

      They also apply to all phases of teaching activities:

      Lecturing;

      Presenting classroom sessions; and

      Preparing written instructional materials.

      They apply, also, to participation in the kinds of continuing education that raises the skill levels of individuals and of the field as a whole.

      THE BCG GENEALOGICAL STANDARDS MANUAL

      Since its foundation in 1964, the Board for Certification of Genealogists (BCG) has promulgated—in lectures and publications—attainable, uniform standards of competence and ethics that have become generally accepted throughout the field. The present publication is designed to clarify, codify, and organize the standards and make them readily accessible to all. It is organized in four sections, the first three of which address standards for researchers, teachers, and ongoing skill development. The fourth section consists of a series of appendixes that provide information about the Board and example reports and compilations. The last section is a subject index to the text and to concepts illustrated in the examples.

      The Manual, which originated as a proposal brought to the trustees by Thomas Jones and a series of drafts submitted by Helen Leary, is the result of more than three years of concentrated work by trustees, officers, and associates of BCG. Their names are listed below—in recognition of their heroic dedication to the realization of this manual and their unwavering support of the standards it reflects.

      Mary McCampbell Bell, CALS [now CLS¹], CGL

      Bettie Cummings Cook, CG

      Joan Ferris Curran, CG

      Donn Devine, CG, CGI

      Kay Haviland Freilich, CG

      George B. Handran, CG

      Marty Hiatt, CGRS

      Kathleen W. Hinckley, CGRS

      Henry B. Hoff, CG, FASG²

      Kay Germain Ingalls, CGRS

      Thomas W. Jones, CG, CGL

      President, 1999-

      Lynn C. McMillion, CAILS [now CLS]

      Brenda Dougall Merriman, CGRS, CGL

      Elizabeth Shown Mills, CG, CGL, FASG

      Joy Reisinger, CG

      William Bart Saxbe, CG, FASG

      Elisabeth Whitman Schmidt, CALS [now CLS]

      Kip Sperry, CG, FASG

      Beth A. Stahr, CGRS

      Additional information about the Board is provided in Appendix A. Its code of ethics is included in Appendix B.

      Helen F. M. Leary, CG, CGL, FASG

      Editor

      February 2000

      RESEARCH STANDARD

      THE GENEALOGICAL PROOF STANDARD

      The ultimate goal for all genealogists is to assemble (and perhaps share with others) a reconstructed family history that is as close to the truth as possible. In order to achieve that goal, we adhere to an overall standard by which we measure the credibility of the statements we make about ancestral identities, relationships, life events, and biographical details.

      This credibility standard is called the Genealogical Proof Standard (GPS). We use the GPS, also, to assess the reliability of genealogical statements other people make, whether they relate to our families or to their own.

      Meeting the Genealogical Proof Standard is a five-step process:

      We conduct a reasonably exhaustive search in reliable sources for all information that is or may be pertinent to the identity, relationship, event, or situation in question;

      We collect and include in our compilation a complete, accurate citation to the source or sources of each item of information we use;

      We analyze and correlate the collected information to assess its quality as evidence;

      We resolve any conflicts caused by items of evidence that contradict each other or are contrary to a proposed (hypothetical) solution to the question; and

      We arrive at a soundly reasoned, coherently written conclusion.

      Meeting the GPS does not require—or ensure—proof beyond the shadow of a doubt, but an objection that something else could have happened is insufficient to discredit our own or another person’s conclusions. Genealogists recognize, however, that any statement about ancestors, even if it meets the GPS, is not absolute or

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