Industry Professionals are Genealogy Resources

When I started the Live Roots project, including living people was one of the first things that I considered. Behind every genealogical resource (e.g. website, book, podcast, etc.) is a person (or a group of people), and it's helpful to genealogists to know the "who's who" of our industry. The Live Roots project makes it easy to explore related resources from the same person, so you can see if they blog, write books, speak at events, all from their profile page. Genealogy researchers, writers and speakers are invited to signup for a free Live Roots profile at either the GenealogyToday.com or LiveRoots.com websites.

Did you know that back in 1981, Mary Keysor Meyer and P. William Filby edited a book called Who's Who in Genealogy & Heraldry (published by Gale Research Co)? I actually have a copy of the 1990 revised edition. Pretty neat book. Each listing has personal (with DOB), career activities and genealogical publications sections. Amazing how many industry professionals there were even back then; the second edition boasts 1,100 biographees. At a quick glance, I see that my friends Leland Meitzler, Arlene Eakle, Tom Kemp, Craig Scott and Kory Meyerink are all listed.

This book is a reminder of just how important industry professionals, many of whom make genealogy their full-time occupation, are to genealogists around the world. It would be incredible to capture as many individuals in the Live Roots project.