Thursday, November 18, 2010

This Week I Joined the Association of Professional Genealogists

I first learned about the APG while attending my first genealogy conference in Portland, Oregon, (NGS 2001) but always had the impression it was limited to being an association for people who researched for a fee.

Recently, two of my friends, DearMyrtle and Tami Glatz, enlightened me to the fact that APG has a much broader scope. Members include family historians, professional researchers, librarians, archivists, writers, editors, consultants, indexers, instructors, lecturers, columnists, booksellers, publishers, computer specialists and geneticists.

A visit to the APG web site helped me understand where I fit into this mix. One of the objectives -- to engage in activities which improve access, facilitate research and preserve records used in the fields of genealogy and local history -- pretty much defines what I've been doing for the past decade here at Genealogy Today, and through my most recent project, Live Roots.

I jokingly call myself the "Fred Sanford" of the genealogy world, as I travel around the country collecting what people (those selling the stuff I purchase) consider "junk" from estate sales, auctions, book/ephemera conferences, and, every once in a while, literally off a garbage pile (that's a story for another blog post).

The APG's own roots are in Utah, where in the early months of 1979, a group of members of the Professional Chapter of the Utah Genealogical Association joined to begin an independent organization, whose goals were to support professional genealogists in all phases of their work.

I'm looking forward to enjoying many of the benefits of APG membership, and hope that I'm able to contribute something back in support of their objectives.

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