Revised ‘Evidence Explained’ offers valuable advice for researchers

Elizabeth Shown Mills, the well-known, nationally recognized leading expert on documenting your sources for genealogy and history writing, has published a new, revised fourth edition of her landmark work, “Evidence Explained.”

The first edition in 2007 has been through many updates and revisions. This one is more succinct than the most previous edition. Even at 744 pages it is massive, but it’s 150 pages thinner than that edition.

The major point she makes in all the editions is that you need to properly cite or document any fact or document you are using in your genealogy and history work. This is to know you are reporting it correctly and that future researchers can find the material again.

The fourth edition begins with the fundamentals of research and why you need citations and how to create a proper one. In this age of online databases, its even more crucial to make it clear what you are citing and when you found it, as some source locations change over time.

She then devotes chapters to various types of records and resources and the proper way to cite them: archives and artifacts; business and institutional records; cemetery, census and church records.

Next, she goes into local and state records, with an entire chapter devoted to national government records.

The final three chapters cover books, CDs, maps, leaflets, videos, legal works and government documents, and then periodicals, broadcasts and “Web Miscellanea.”

So it seems she has covered any source you may encounter. There is a glossary of terms, a bibliography and an index.

If you are going to be serious about properly documenting your research, this is the book to have. Published by the Genealogical Publishing Co. (genealogical. com), “Evidence Explained” is available from there for $65 in book format.

Georgia founding video released

The Georgia Historical Society has a new video on the founding of Georgia. The eight-minute-long work is at georgia history festival. org/georgiaday and gives a succinct look at the reasons Georgia was founded and the early days of the colony.

Northern Ireland/ Ulster website revised

The Ulster Historical Foundation has revised its website at ulsterhistoricalfoundation.com, and it’s worth visiting if you are researching your Northern Ireland roots.