20 November 2012

Lessons in Genealogy 1915

The Genealogical Society of Utah was organized on November 13, 1894. By 1915 the Society was already publishing the third edition of Lessons in Genealogy - now available in The Internet Archive (pdf).

Browsing through it becomes apparent that although technology has advanced, procedures are more systematized and the way things are expressed has changed much remains the same.
The book advises to "use notebooks, preferably about seven by ten inches, as this permits space for dates and names across the page," that "A soft and good pencil is advisable, as there are often erasures to make, especially with beginners."

Today we've little need for advice to "Insist on securing the very best ink made for permanent recording". "Cheap ink soon fades, and the fading-away of our work may prove a serious loss to our descendants."

You won't find "cite your sources" with hundreds of pages of prescription of how to do so. Readers were advised to "always write at the top of your page in both notebook and record of temple work, the source of your information, whether it be from family tradition, from individuals, from old Bibles, from books in a certain library, from county wills or deeds, from cemeteries, or from parish records searched by yourself or another at your instigation. Write out on each page just where the names you record can be found. Be careful, be accurate, and give all facts."

Another snippet. Did you know that "The first American work on genealogy was published in 1771. The second in 1787. The third in 1813."?

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