Evidence Explained is the definitive guide to the citation and analysis of historical sources–a guide so thorough that it leaves nothing to chance. While countless websites now suggest ways to identify their offerings, few of those address the analytical needs of a researcher concerned with the nature and provenance of web material, whose numerous incarnations and transformations often affect the reliability of their content.

In the two years since the Third Edition was published, changes at major repositories and online information providers–as well as the ever-evolving electronic world–have generated new citation and analysis challenges for researchers. As a consequence, Mrs. Mills has once again revised her citation models and added descriptions and evaluations of numerous contemporary materials not included in the original Third Edition.

Here are the major changes you will find in this revised Third Edition:

• • Changes to about 75 pages in the text and index

• • New citations for the National Archives (NARA) website and manner of identifying documents

• • Updates for citing DAR’s revamped website and databases

• • Alterations in citations for the DAR website and database

• Immigration citations reflecting changed records at the Ellis Island website

“Twenty-first century technology confronts historians and students with a bewildering proliferation of information some of it accurate and too much of it dubious. In Evidence Explained, Mills demonstrates how to separate the wheat from the chaff and how to report one’s sources and achievements. This encyclopedic guidebook is an invaluable resource for historians, students and editors alike.”—Jon Kukla, author of Mr. Jefferson’s Women and A Wilderness So Immense: The Louisiana Purchase and the Destiny of America

“Historians will welcome the publication of this detailed guide to citations. Even avid users of The Chicago Manual of Style regularly encounter sources for which that handbook gives no guidance. Now we can turn to Elizabeth Shown Mills’s comprehensive work.”–Journal of Southern History

“A key resource guide for scholars and serious researchers who must rely upon and understand historical evidence. Highly recommended.”–R.V. Labaree, Choice

“This is an essential resource for family historians; highly recommended for all libraries.”–Library Journal (First edition: Library Journal Best Reference 2007)

“In standardizing a family history style, Mills has advanced the discipline. She has given researchers, writers, editors, and publishers invaluable new tools to bring quality and consistency to their work and distinction to the field.”–National Genealogical Society Quarterly

“Meant not only as a style guide for the types of source citations used by historians and genealogists, this book also discusses why analysis of information within the total context of a source is imperative to understanding the nature of a fact. Citations not only tell where the source was found, but also can indicate a level of confidence to knowledgeable researchers.”–Association of Professional Genealogists Quarterly

** Library Journal’s Best Reference 2007 **
** Winner of the National Genealogical Society’s 2008 Award of Excellence**

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Now a new generation of genealogical educators have given the field an entirely new guide to the profession of genealogy–offering fresh insights and new specialties, grounded in more-solid standards and wider experiences and applications. In twenty-six chapters, written by twenty-two experts and edited by Elizabeth Shown Mills, Professional Genealogy: Preparation, Practice & Standards (ProGen PPS) is an invaluable resource for professional genealogists and students, as well as all family history researchers. “From genetic and forensic genealogy to ethics and contracts, business structures, marketing, writing, editing, and preparing books for press, ProGen PPS promises to inspire thought processes and ignite new discussions (Billie Stone Fogarty, M. Ed. President, Association of Professional Genealogists).

“Searching for roots” is a popular hobby, but genealogy is a discipline. From courts of law to government agencies, from medical research projects to television shows, reliable genealogical research is an essential in modern societies. The public sector needs professionals who know historical archives well but, more importantly, understand the strengths and weaknesses of individual records. It needs professionals skilled not only in research principles but the far more difficult challenge of proving identities and kinship. It needs professionals who understand proof and the standards that produce reliable evidence.

ProGen PPS provides a complete course of instruction to prepare genealogists for a career in a complex field. Whether you discover this career path as a young adult or come into genealogy as a mature researcher trained in another professional discipline, ProGen PPS will ground you in the essential practices, standards, and language of genealogy–those expected by courts, government agencies, and others who commission research. If you are a librarian or archivist who assists family historians on a daily basis, ProGen PPS provides a framework to coach them well. If you are a family or local historian, seeking to learn and preserve your heritage, ProGen PPS will help you avoid common pitfalls and guide you through the production of quality works.

“ProGen PPS is a landmark volume with an abundance of new material and thought. The collective talents of today’s generation of key influencers bring together unsurpassed knowledge of our craft that simply must be studied by novice and expert alike!”–David E. Rencher, AG, CG, FUGA, FIGRS, Chief Genealogical Officer, FamilySearch

About Elizabeth Shown Mills
Elizabeth Shown Mills, the architect and editor of both Professional Genealogy: Preparation, Practice &
Standards and 2001’s Professional Genealogy: A Manual for Researchers, Writers, Editors, Lecturers
& Librarians, has been cited by her peers as the most influential genealogist in the post-Roots era.
As a pioneer educator in standards-based research and a developer of problem-solving strategies for proving identities and kinships, Mills edited a major scholarly journal for 16 years and both taught and directed programs in the field’s leading institutes for three decades. Widely published by commercial and scholarly presses in genealogy and history, as well as literature and sociology, her fifteen books include GPC’s best-seller Evidence Explained: Citing History Sources from Artifacts to Cyberspace and its companion series, QuickSheets.

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With each map there is data on boundary changes, notes about the census, and locality finding keys. There also are inset maps that clarify territorial lines, a state-by-state bibliography of sources, and an appendix outlining pitfalls in mapping county boundaries. The detail in this work is exhaustive and of such impeccable standards that there is little wonder why this award-winning publication is the number one tool in U.S. census research.

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In every field of study, there is one book that rises above the rest in stature and authority and becomes the standard work in the field. In genealogy that book is Val Greenwood’s Researcher’s Guide to American Genealogy. Arguably the best book ever written on American genealogy, it instructs the researcher in the timeless principles of genealogical research, while identifying the most current classes of records and research tools.

Research in family history has experienced unprecedented changes since the year 2000, when the 3rd edition of this book was published—changes surpassing anything that most of us even dreamed of at that time. These changes have come about because of the significant technological advances that have greatly facilitated genealogy research.

This edition of The Researcher’s Guide has been completely updated, incorporating all the latest developments, principles, and resources relevant to family history research. There are now two chapters about technology as it relates to family history research–one dealing with significant concepts and definitions and the other with specific resources and applications, including major family history websites and Internet resources. In addition, virtually every chapter provides information on Internet websites pertinent to the subject discussed in that chapter.

However, despite the fact that the steps involving family history research are greatly facilitated and enhanced by modern technology, it is still essential to search all available records for all persons of your surname(s) of interest, and to carefully analyze and evaluate all the information you find to determine if and how it provides evidence that relates to your objectives. Good instructional guidance is critical to the success of family history research, and this is where The Researcher’s Guide is unsurpassed. It is both a textbook and an all-purpose reference book, designed to help the present generation of family history researchers better understand the methods and principles of family history research, and learn how to utilize all available resources. As Val Greenwood writes, “These are our ancestors we are talking about here; we owe it to them to get it right.”

This edition provides a clear, comprehensive, and up-to-date account of American genealogy–no sound genealogical project is complete without it.

“Recommended as the most comprehensive how-to book on American genealogical and local history research.” Library Journal

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