As you may know, I do occasional book reviews. Some books are complimentary copies, while others are books that I believe are essential for genealogy research.

I can’t believe I’ve never reviewed this book, so I want to make up for the oversight today.

Genealogy Standards: Second Edition was published in 2019 by the Board for Certification of Genealogists.

If you aren’t interested in seeking certification to go professional, why you ask should you buy this book?

That’s an easy question to answer. There are two groups of us – those who seek certification, and in doing so, attain top notch research skills and those who aren’t interested in professional work, but who also want to do genealogical research using top notch skills.

Genealogy Standards: Second Edition is the handy little tome – only 91 pages long – that will guide all of us as we strive to build our research skills, regardless of whether we are pursuing certification.

Table of Contents

Introduction to the Second Edition
Introduction to the First Edition

Chapter 1 – The Genealogical Proof Standard
Chapter 2 – Standards for Documenting
Chapter 3 – Standards for Researching
Chapter 4- Standards for Writing
Chapter 5 – Standards for Genealogical Educators
Chapter 6 – Standards for Continuing Education

Appendix A – The Genealogist’s Code of Ethics
Appendix B – About the Board for Certification of Genealogists
Appendix C – Sources and Resources
Appendix D – Glossary

Evidence Analysis: A Research Process Map (by Elizabeth Shown Mills)

This book is all about the Genealogical Proof Standard. If all genealogists strove to reach the GPS in their work, there would be far fewer totally messed up online family trees out there and sources would be provided to back up information.

Everyone, regardless of expertise in the genealogical research arena, can learn from this book.

Now, if you like to have some instruction to accompany this reading, I’ll share a little known tip.

The Board for Certification of Genealogists (The BCG) presents regular webinars on a variety of topics. These webinars are free and are housed at Legacy Family Tree Webinars.

However, unlike the regular Legacy webinars, which are free when viewed live, but behind a pay wall afterwards, the BCG webinars remain in their FREE library FOREVER.

Genealogy Standards: Second Edition is available for less than $15 on Amazon.

Every genealogist should have this book on the reference library bookshelf. The book, paired with the free BCG webinar library is a win  win.

Where else is an excellent genealogy education available for $15.00?