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From: <>
Subject: Re: [APG] Genealogical Education
Date: Mon, 11 May 2009 11:57:59 -0500
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Larry wrote:
>The idea that historians treat genealogy with little respect is an old,
tired line. ... Was just reading about one historian who has his class
undertake family history research as part of an introductory class in Asian
history partly because of the lack of records in that subject area.


Yes, Larry, progress is definitely being made. If not, then Michael John
Neill and I would not have been invited onto this year's program of the
Organization of American Historians to discuss the value of genealogy to
history. Nor would I have been asked to present an academic paper, based on
my genealogical research, at another history conference the week before
that; and I would not have the lead chapter in a book on women's history due
out any day now at the University of Georgia Press.

However, a fundamental principle of any type of evidence analysis is that
anecdote does not constitute a rule. Nor can we understand the role that
genealogy plays in classes such as the one you cite--or whether genealogical
standards of "evidence gathering and analysis" are even recognized in those
classes--unless we delve below the surface of each situation to evaluate the
context in which the anecdotes occur. News accounts don't provide that level
of understanding, a point we quickly recognize when we read news accounts of
other genealogical practices. (We know, for example, that tabloid-type
accounts of genealogists stalking cousins at fast-food joints, to whisk away
their coffee cups for DNA samples, do not seriously reflect the values or
standards of most genealogists who use DNA in their research.)

Having students spend "part of an introductory class" dipping their toes
into genealogical waters is not evidence that academia recognizes "the
progress that genealogy as a field has made in the area of evidence
gathering and analysis." It's simply a recognition that personal history
hooks the student more than political, military, or constitutional history;
and it's still a venture that--by and large--does *not* recognize the
complexities of genealogical research methodology and analysis.

As Allison points out from her own academic experiences, historians who are
personally acquainted with skilled, careful genealogists *are* impressed by
the nature and quality of their work--although most do prefer to describe it
in terms of "microhistory" rather than the connotation-laden term
"genealogy." But again, in their assessment of our field, they conclude that
exceptions do not make the rule.

I'm off now to Raleigh. Sorry I won't have time to debate you further this
week. :)

Elizabeth

-------------------------------------------------------------
Elizabeth Shown Mills, CG, CGL, FASG
APG member, Tennessee

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