California Genealogical Society blog: Report #3: 2010 Salt Lake Institute of Genealogy

Here's Jeffrey Vaillant's third report from the Salt Lake Institute of Genealogy:

Tuesday, 12 January 2010
Salt Lake City

Today’s emphasis was on the Board for Certification of Genealogists with Elissa Scalise Powell Document Work: Research Focus, Document Analysis, Research Plan – all in 60 minutes. The lecture included an in-class exercise looking at a transcribed document testing our skills in proposing a research problem from the paper, analyzing the document in light of the research problem and designing a research plan. Papers were exchanged and reviewed – no names, no prisoners! The use of a document supplied by BCG and one supplied by the applicant both analyzed with a research plan is one of the requirements for certification.

Next up at the podium was Paula Stuart-Warren discussing Client Reports. Paula discussed the elements of the report along with its format. Client reports are part of the bread and butter for the professional genealogist AND a requirement for certification. Paula handed out a Funeral Record (from San Francisco of all places!) for our use as part of a report. This was a total class participation exercise after we broke into smaller groups to analyze the information.

The third session of the morning was Pamela Boyer Sayre who is in charge of Education at the National Genealogical Society who will be having their annual conference in Salt Lake City in April. Pamela took on Source Citation Principles which is a tough subject to discuss. Come on, we all love to correctly cite the information we have gathered, right? She did a great job and we all bowed down to Elizabeth Shown Mills, the goddess of source citation. Good news is that the new edition of Evidence Explained is out and its PDF version will be forthcoming – easier to carry around that 800+ page book on the computer than in-hand.

A break for lunch and then a heavy duty 90 minute Evidence Analysis Principles for Complex-Evidence Case Studies by Thomas W. Jones. He is a terrific speaker and kept us on the edge of our seats making terminology definitions with a myriad of examples. If you go to a conference where he is presenting get to all of his lectures. Tomorrow we have two more of his insights into genealogy.

Then it was time to escape to the Family History Library even though it is only a 2.5 block walk, it is about 19 degrees F—brrrrrrrr. The FHL is a "microfilm candy store" for one can simply walk up to the cabinet and get the film, unless it is storied in the vault. Of course, one of the reels I wanted was off-site. The FHL has the technology to put the images on one’s flash drive with no charge. For those of you thinking about going to the FHL with the CGS: get prepared.

- Jeffrey Vaillant