Over the past week or two, we received highly favorable reviews of the new fourth edition of Evidence Explained. Citing History Sources from Artifacts to Cyberspace from three of the most popular genealogy bloggers on the Internet: Marian B. Wood (“Climbing My Family Tree”), Randy Seaver (“Genea-Musings” ), and Linda Stufflebean (“Empty Branches on the[…]Read more
To celebrate the release of the new fourth edition of Evidence Explained: Citing History Sources from Artifacts to Cyberspace, author Elizabeth Shown Mills offers guidance drawn from the new edition. This is second in our four-part series. (View part 1) Technology has complicated the process of citing our sources. With digital images delivered online or through other[…]Read more
[Excerpted from Elizabeth Shown Mills, Evidence Explained: Citing History Sources from Artifacts to Cyberspace, 3d ed. rev. (Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., 2017), pp. 52–53, §2.22–2.23.] “Six basic rules govern our citation of titles, regardless of the type of record or publication we are using: 1) BOOK, CD, DVD, JOURNAL, MAP, WEBSITE, ETC. For published stand-alone[…]Read more
“The Name’s the Same” Rule: Identifying people is a significant challenge for historical writers—particularly people who played minor roles in an event or lived low-key lives. When we encounter records that bear the right name, in the right place and time, it is tempting to assume the record applies to our person of interest. The[…]Read more
To celebrate the release of the new fourth edition of Evidence Explained: Citing History Sources from Artifacts to Cyberspace, EE’s author offers guidance drawn from the new edition. This is the fourth in our four-part series. ( View Part 1 | View Part 2 | View Part 3 ) Citations are flexible structures. They are not rigid formulas from which we dare[…]Read more
To celebrate the release of the new fourth edition of Evidence Explained: Citing History Sources from Artifacts to Cyberspace, author Elizabeth Shown Mills offers guidance drawn from the new edition. This is the first in our four-part series. Basic Rule 1: We Cite What We Use This bit of wisdom is one most of us[…]Read more
(Excerpted from Elizabeth Shown Mills, Evidence Explained: Citing History Sources from Artifacts to Cyberspace, 3d ed. rev. (Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., 2017), pp. 52, 180, §2.21, 4.6.) In the following excerpt from her acclaimed book, Evidence Explained: Citing History Sources from Artifacts to Cyberspace. 3rd Edition Revised, Elizabeth Shown Mills explains why researchers should avoid[…]Read more
Online sources are publications, with the same basic elements as print publications. This core principle applies whether we are using a commercial site, a website created by an individual, or a social-networking site such as Facebook, LinkedIn, or Twitter. Within this framework, we have just four basic rules to remember: Rule 1: Most websites are[…]Read more
To celebrate the release of the new fourth edition of Evidence Explained: Citing History Sources from Artifacts to Cyberspace, EE’s author offers guidance drawn from the new edition. This is the third in our four-part series. ( View Part 1 | View Part 2 ) Previous posts in this series introduced the concept of layered[…]Read more
(View 4th Edition of Evidence Explained in Store) The Information Age has created a Catch-22 for historians. Online, we can scour billions of documents from around the world. Images of priceless originals are instantly downloadable to our PCs, laptops, tablets, and phones. Travel to archives, for long slogs through dusty boxes of record bundles tied[…]Read more
Earlier this month, the New England Historic Genealogical Society presented Elizabeth Shown Mills with its distinguished Coddington Award of Merit. The award is named after John Insley Coddington, who, after Donald Lines Jacobus, is considered the dean of 20th-century American genealogists. The Codington award recognizes significant accomplishments and contributions in the field. Elizabeth Shown Mills,[…]Read more
[Excerpted from Elizabeth Shown Mills, Evidence Explained: Citing History Sources from Artifacts to Cyberspace, 3d ed. rev. (Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., 2017), pp. 18–22, §1.4, 1.11.] Our latest excerpt from Elizabeth Shown Mills’ classic work, Evidence Explained: Citing History Sources from Artifacts to Cyberspace, is one we would all do well to contemplate regularly as we conduct our research,[…]Read more
