On Tue, 28 Mar 2006 20:58:00 -0500, Herbert Barger <[log in to unmask]>
wrote (quoting from the writings of a friend of his):


>"Adding more confusion to this matter is
>Jefferson-Hemings, A Special Issue of the National Genealogical Society
>Quarterly. As professional genealogists know, all has not been well at the
>National Genealogical Society (NGS) in the recent past, and virttually the
>entire leadership has been REPLACED since the special issue was released in
>2001."


Mr. Barger, confusion exists only if one attempts to “connect dots” by
ignoring some of them. Insofar as the *NGS Quarterly* is concerned, a third
and critical event is omitted from the above chronicle: NGSQ's assistant
editor died suddenly a month after the issue hit the stands. (No, we do not
suspect poisoning and the Ghost of Mr. Jefferson did not haunt him to his
grave.)

Gary's death posed a personal and professional dilemma for me, the
surviving editor. As a trained historian as well as a genealogist, I have
argued one thing passionately for three decades: Genealogy  -- when it
transcends myth, lore, and ancestor-worship -- has significant academic
value. Practiced with discipline and rigor, it can immensely enrich our
understanding of the human condition and the circumstances that have
created the world in which we live. As a discipline, I contend, family
history deserves as much academic respect as any other form of history.

During the 16 years that Gary and I edited the *NGS Quarterly,* we made at
least one academic advance for genealogy: we acquired for the journal an
academic base at the University of Alabama where Gary was a longtime
professor of history. That scholastic affiliation for genealogy’s premier
national journal, we both felt, was critical to any eventual recognition
that the phrase "genealogical scholarship" really is not an oxymoron.

Gary's death, however, meant that the *NGS Quarterly* would lose its
academic home, given that my only association with UA was long-ago, adjunct
service to a different "college" within the university.

Rather than see the erosion of that small bit of progress for genealogy, I
made a proposal to NGS: I should be replaced by an editor with a university
affiliation, so that an academic base might be retained. My recommendation
was the Virginia professor, Dr. Thomas W. Jones of Gallaudet, a past-
president of the Board for Certification of Genealogists and author of a
major article within NGSQ's special issue *Jefferson-Hemings.*

Fortunately, Dr. Jones's university was indeed interested in providing a
home for the journal within the Gallaudet Research Institute. And, as I
trusted, both the "old" administration at NGS and its "new" administration--
which was, as a point of fact, much the same--agreed to the proposal. Both
NGS and its journal have been in superb hands ever since.


Elizabeth Shown Mills, CG, CGL, FASG
Track 4: Advanced Research Methodology & Evidence Analysis
Samford University Institute of Genealogy & Historical Research

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