Tips & Quips for the Family Historian

Description

Tips and Quips is a treasury of bon mots and wise words for everyone who pursues genealogy. Whether you are a researcher in need of inspiration, or a speaker or writer in search of a zinger to punctuate your thoughts, Tips & Quips can be your muse.

The sayings and writings found here are divided into no fewer than 86 categories relevant to genealogists. Categories from Analysis, Ethnic Research and Genetic Genealogy, to the Internet, Land and Names; and from Photographs, Plagiarism and Proof, to Research, Sources and Tax Records. It’s easy to find just the quip you need from the book’s detailed table of contents, or you can search the author index or consult the glossary of key words at the back.

Truth is, Tips and Quips is entertaining, inspiring, and informative, making it that rarity among genealogy books–bedside reading. Here are some illustrations, arranged by category to whet your appetite:

Ancestors: “To forget one’s ancestors is to be a brook without a source, a tree without a root.”–Chinese Proverb

Documentation: “In God we trust. All others must show sources.”–David Woody

Ethnic Research: “Researching your ancestors during slavery becomes researching the owners of your ancestors.”–Nancy Richey

Genealogy: “Genealogy is not fatal–but it’s a grave disease.”–Anonymous

Genealogy: “None of us can harbor prejudice against another group of people when we realize that, with the very next document we find, we could be a part of them.”–Elizabeth Shown Mills

Genetic Genealogy: “People lie. DNA doesn’t.”–Angie Bush

Miscellany: “The family historian wants to remember what their grandparents wished to forget.” –Diedre Erin Denton

Research: “‘Google’ is not a synonym for ‘research’.”–Dan Brown

Traditions: Just because it is said does not make it true. Just because it cannot be found does not make it false.”–James Walton

Across four decades, Elizabeth Shown Mills has produced many first-of its-kind works for historical researchers. Now with her granddaughter, Ruth Brossette Lennon, she gives us another–the first collection of quotes that focuses entirely on “history up close and personal.” Enjoy!