International Institute of Genealogical Studies

Optional Supplies: 

• Print Course Material - Business Skills: Business Administration
• Mills, Elizabeth Shown, Professional Genealogy: A manual for researchers, writers, editors, lecturers and librarians (2001; reprint, Baltimore, Maryland: Genealogical Publishing Company, Inc., 2012).

*Course material will only be sent to students who are registered in the course.

Once you have set up your small business, it is not enough to simply sit back, wait for clients to come to you, and provide your services. In order to keep the business viable and successful, you must focus ongoing attention on its overall operation and growth. 

 This course will identify the various elements involved in keeping a business strong, and will educate you on how to accomplish these. Examples will be drawn from the businesses of providing genealogy and personal history services. Assignments and exercises will offer practical application of the material and opportunities to explore different methods and tools available to the small business owner. 

It is recommended that the student complete the course, Business Skills: Creating a Genealogy Business first or have at least written a business plan and started a business before embarking on this course.

Note: This course requires compulsory materials to be ordered. The book is available at GenealogyStore.com

1. Mills, Elizabeth Shown, Professional Genealogy: A manual for researchers, writers, editors, lecturers and librarians (2001; reprint, Baltimore, Maryland: Genealogical Publishing Company, Inc., 2012).

Optional Print Course Materials:Business Skills: Career Development: Choosing a Niche - Part 1

*Course material will only be sent to students who are registered in the course.

Creating a genealogical business requires many steps. First, there is self-analysis to determine who you are, what you want, how to achieve balance in work and personal life, and what kind of business you wish to start. Next comes the business planning, market analysis, marketing planning and overall business structure to establish. Finally, considerations of things you need for the business from supplies, income, marketing opportunities, and a productivity tool chest will help round out your plans and get you off on the right footing. In Creating a Business, you will learn the skills you need to accomplish all these things and spend a lot of time thinking about the ins and outs of business.

Course Length: 7 weeks

Note: This course requires compulsory materials to be ordered. The book is available at GenealogyStore.com

1. Mills, Elizabeth Shown, Professional Genealogy: A manual for researchers, writers, editors, lecturers and librarians (2001; reprint, Baltimore, Maryland: Genealogical Publishing Company, Inc., 2012).

Optional Print Course Material: Business Skills: Career Development: Choosing a Niche - Part 2

*Course material will only be sent to students who are registered in the course.

Finding your niches in the business of genealogy is something discovered over time. As new opportunities in the business present themselves, you will be faced with choices about which direction to take. Learn about additional niche opportunities in this course including Historian, Organizer, Social Media Marketer, Coach, and explore additional niches on your own based on what you have learned throughout the course. Use this knowledge to continue to grow your genealogy business. 

Course Length: 7 weeks

Optional Print Course Material: Business Skills: Marketing Your Services and Products

*Course material will only be sent to students who are registered in the course.

Marketing is the way to get the word out about your business, so that potential clients or customers will find you. As with most professionals, you may prefer to spend your time and energy doing what you do best—whether that is writing books of families’ histories, making video-biographies, or capturing oral histories for a business history—but in order to find clients, you must give adequate attention to marketing. In this course, we will present the basic methods and topics in marketing, geared toward a small business owner like a personal historian or professional genealogist. 

It is recommended that you have taken the course, Business Skills: Creating a Business, or at least have written a business plan and started a business.  

Course Length: 7 weeks

Optional Print Course Material:Business Skills: Establishing and Promoting Your Website

*Course material will only be sent to students who are registered in the course.

A website is an important part of your overall business. But planning, creating and maintaining a website can seem overwhelming. What information should your website include? What should not be part of your website? 

In this course we will start at the basics and discuss why you need a website, provide ideas for your website, and go through the steps of getting started. Using WordPress and Blogger for your website and blog will be discussed. 

Course Length: 7 weeks

Optional Print Course Materials: Skill-Building: Breaking Down Brick Walls

*Course material will only be sent to students who are registered in the course.

NOTE: This course is classified as Basic Level in the Professional Development Certificate Program. 

Developed for individuals who are at or working in the Intermediate to Advanced Levels in our other certificate programs, we advise you complete the Analysis and Skills Mentoring-Part 1 course or have a working knowledge of the topics taught in that course prior to completing this one. 

Brick walls are a reality in genealogy research, but fortunately there's hope. In this course, we look at a variety of strategies you can implement to help turn your research roadblocks into breakthroughs. We begin with a quick refresher of some key research concepts to help focus your research and prepare you for success. Next, we'll walk through some simple steps to get you prepared for the journey. Finally, we'll investigate four different approaches to do some brick wall busting. By the end of this course, you'll have some new ideas for researching brick walls and the inspiration to forge ahead. 

Course Length: 7 weeks

Optional Print Course Material: Demystifying Culture and Folklore

*Course material will only be sent to students who are registered in the course.

Culture and its accompanying behaviors, traditions, stories, etc. (folklore) are an integral part of who we are as human beings. This course encourages students to explore their own roots to determine how their primary cultures (race, ethnicity, nationality) have influenced their ancestors over the generations, and how their subcultures (religion, family, occupations, etc.) have been formed and influenced by the intergenerational folklore passed down from ancestors. 

To accomplish these goals, students will be encouraged to apply course theory to their own lives and the lives of their forebears in personal application essays. 

Course Length: 7 weeks

Optional Print Course Material: Research: House and Farm Histories

*Course material will only be sent to students who are registered in the course.

Conducting research on property can be as rewarding as conducting research on ancestors. The goal of this course is to teach the student to understand the various documents and research necessary to develop and present a house and/or farm history. Throughout this course, the student will build their understanding of house and farm related documents from established text and assignments that will require the student to practice their skills.  

Course Length: 7 weeks

Optional Print Course Material: Personal Historian: Telling the Stories

*Course material will only be sent to students who are registered in the course.

Telling the stories of our ancestors must go beyond the basics of names, dates, and places. We can use those pieces as a foundation but must, as a home builder does, add layers and stories to that foundation. 

This course will help you add a Personal Historian component to your business by demonstrating the many layers available. Those layers add depth to both personal and client projects and additional revenue streams to a business. 

Course Length: 7 weeks

Optional Print Course Material: Photography: Clues Pictures Hold, Editing, Digitizing and Various Projects

*Course material will only be sent to students who are registered in the course.

A picture is worth a thousand words, so photographs are an integral part of telling a story. This course is designed to help students use and identify photographs to document their family history. Students are encouraged to apply the methods in this course to make the best use of their own family photos and/or those of their genealogy clients. 

Assignments will focus on practical applications of methods using photographs. Students will learn ways to obtain family photographs, archive them physically and digitally, determine the photographic processes used, date the photographs, and identify people and other details in the images. 

Although this course is part of the Professional Development Certificate program, it is suitable for those with a general interest in family photographs. 

Course Length: 9 weeks

Note: This course requires compulsory materials to be ordered. The book is available at GenealogyStore.com

1. Mills, Elizabeth Shown, Professional Genealogy: A manual for researchers, writers, editors, lecturers and librarians (2001; reprint, Baltimore, Maryland: Genealogical Publishing Company, Inc., 2012).

Optional Print Course Material: Writing for Genealogy: Articles, Blogs, Research Reports and so much more

*Course material will only be sent to students who are registered in the course.

Writing is an essential part of the work of a professional genealogist. Whether you choose to lecture, research for clients, or write content for others, it is important to not only know how to write but to understand how to incorporate various kinds of writing into your business. This course looks at the different types of writing you may do as a working genealogist and gives tips for resources to help further your knowledge of writing. In this course we will examine continuing education, writing client reports, business writing, writing for societies and for editors. 

Course Length: 7 weeks

Optional Print Course Material: Creating Genealogy Programs for Adults and the Younger Generation

*Course material will only be sent to students who are registered in the course.

Engaging adults in genealogy has typically been a task for genealogical societies rather than libraries. Today however, many libraries are creating adult genealogy groups and programs. Attendance for these programs is easier to obtain than perhaps a youth program in genealogy. But, these libraries are also looking for ways to engage the youth in genealogy. The problem lies in how to capture their interest and create a program that will convey the basics of research in a way that is both meaningful and engaging. 

This course provides an example of creating an adult genealogy program first, as a way to lay the foundation for a youth program. It follows with examples of youth programs for those in grades one through twelve. The examples are laid out into one hour, one and a half-hour, half-day, and full-day workshops and cover the basics of research while also incorporating social and local history. The final result is a rich and useful youth genealogy program. Requirements and suggestions on assisting youth who are earning Scout-type badges follows and finally, you will take the youth workshop beyond the classroom. You will learn ways to continue your own education, create and provide additional resources for your library, and connect with others. 

NOTE: Although this course written with the librarian in mind, it is also suitable for the society organizer, archivist, professional genealogist, or teacher. 

Course Length: 7 weeks

*Course material will only be sent to students who are registered in the course.

 Course Length: 9 weeks

NOTE: Please be aware this course is classified as Intermediate Level in the Professional Development Certificate Program. Developed for individuals at or working in the Intermediate to Advanced Levels in our other certificate programs. If considering this course, you should have completed or have full knowledge/experience from our courses: Skills: Transcribing, Abstracting & Extracting, Methodology - Part 3: More Strategies, and Methodology - Part 4: Effective Searching and Recording. 

Note: This course requires compulsory materials to be ordered. These are available at GenealogyStore.com

1. Board for Certification of Genealogists, Genealogy Standards, 2nd edition revised (Nashville, Tennessee: Ancestry, 2021).
2. Mills, Elizabeth Shown, Evidence Explained: Citing History Sources from Artifacts to Cyberspace, Third Edition Revised (Baltimore, Maryland: Genealogical Publishing Co., 2017). 
3. Mills, Elizabeth Shown, Professional Genealogy: A manual for researchers, writers, editors, lecturers and librarians (2001; reprint, Baltimore, Maryland: Genealogical Publishing Company, Inc., 2012).

Optional Print Course Material: Skill Building: Nuts and Bolts of Reporting Research

*Course material will only be sent to students who are registered in the course.

A professional or serious-minded genealogist needs to perfect core skills, whether they conduct research for clients, lecture, or write. These skills include source citation, transcription, and writing. In genealogy, there are some texts that are considered the standard by which professionals are judged ― these include:

*Professional Genealogy: A Manual for Researchers, Writers, Editors, Lecturers Librarians edited by Elizabeth Shown Mills.

*Evidence Explained: Citing History Sources from Artifacts to Cyberspace by Elizabeth Shown Mills.

*Mastering Genealogical Proof by Dr. Thomas Jones.

*Genealogy Standards by the Board for Certified Genealogists

These books help prepare the professional or serious minded genealogist for the day-to-day work of writing, analyzing, and preparing information for themselves or the clients.

In this course, the student will study portions of some of the above-mentioned texts and complete assignments and exercises to better understand the key elements taught within its pages. 

Course Length: 7 weeks

NOTE: This course is classified as Intermediate Level in the Professional Development Certificate Program. It has been developed for individuals who are at or working in the Intermediate to Advanced Levels in our other certificate programs. It is advised that you complete the Analysis and Skills Mentoring Program-Part 1  course or have a working knowledge of the topics taught in that course prior to completing this one.

Note: This course requires compulsory materials to be ordered. These are available at GenealogyStore.com

1. Board for Certification of Genealogists, Genealogy Standards, 2nd edition revised (Nashville, Tennessee: Ancestry, 2021).
2. Jones, Thomas W., Mastering Genealogical Proof (Arlington, Virginia: National Genealogical Society, 2013).

Optional Print Course Material: Skill-Building: Evidence Analysis and Evaluation Using Case Studies

*Course material will only be sent to students who are registered in the course.

Taking the time to study a wide variety of case studies and proof arguments/summaries can expand your knowledge of methodology, evidence and analysis, sources, citation formats, cultural mores, immigration patterns, amongst many other things. It will make you a better genealogist by expanding your knowledge beyond the subset of genealogy that you normally work in. 

As an example, someone working in Canadian research on a daily basis can learn much from a case study on Irish research and vice versa. Amongst other things, they can learn methodology, new sources of evidence, how to analyze evidence, and even gain geographical and cultural knowledge! 

NOTE: A student could spend approximately 6 to 8 hours a week working on this course.

Course Length: 7 weeks

Optional Print Course Material: Lecturing Skills Including Preparation

1. Mills, Elizabeth Shown, editor, Professional Genealogy: A manual for researchers, writers, editors, lecturers and librarians (2001; reprint, Baltimore, Maryland: Genealogical Publishing Company, Inc., 2012).
2. Mills, Elizabeth Shown, editor, Professional Genealogy: Preparation, Practice & Standards (Baltimore, Maryland: Genealogical Publishing Company, Inc., 2018).

*Course material will only be sent to students who are registered in the course.

Lecturing Skills is a hands-on course requiring the student to provide a 30-minute presentation online. The assignments have due dates, unlike our other courses, which allows your instructor to review and for IIGS to promote your presentation.

This course focuses on the skills needed to present genealogical-related lectures to a variety of audiences. As a student, you develop all aspects of the lecturing process, including:

• the proposal
• biographical sketch
• marketing
• syllabus material
• creating lecture slides
• and more

In order to complete this course, the student must develop and deliver a 30-minute lecture to an audience of students and/or genealogical society members virtually via the International Institute of Genealogical Studies’ Zoom event. The final presentation is 50% of the grade.

Course Length: 12 weeks

Optional Print Course Material: Scottish: Old Parish Registers

*Course material will only be sent to students who are registered in the course.

Before the introduction of Statutory Registration in Scotland, the most easily accessible source of information about our ancestors is the Old Parish Registers (OPRs) of the Church of Scotland.  

This course will examine in detail the pleasures and pitfalls of the Old Parish Registers (OPRs) and the extent to which they survive. The various indexes to the OPRs and sources to find copies of the OPRs will be examined.  

The course will cover the main categories of records for christenings, marriage banns and deaths; and will consider irregular marriages and discuss the major alternative sources for death records: local authority burial records and Monumental Inscriptions.   

Course Length: 6 weeks

Optional Course Print Material: Scottish: Wills and Testaments

*Course material will only be sent to students who are registered in the course.

Wills are one of the most valuable sources for genealogists because they usually mention several family members, even from collateral branches of the family. They are often the easiest means of extending a family tree before the introduction of Statutory Registration in Scotland.    

This course will examine Scottish Confirmations and Inventories (the equivalent of English Wills and Admons) in detail. It will cover the legislation defining what could be willed at various periods and the courts which had jurisdiction. 

Course Length: 7 weeks

Optional Print Course Material: Scottish: Census Records

*Course material will only be sent to students who are registered in the course.

This course looks at the history, structure and contents of the 1841-1911 censuses of Scotland. Strategies for searching and locating the records will be discussed together with the limitations of the various sources. We will then look at the research possibilities of earlier census returns, together with their survival back to Rev. Dr. Alexander Webster’s census of 1755. We will also look at the National Identity Register of 1939.

Course Length: 7 weeks

Optional Course Print Material: Scottish: Statutory Registration

*Course material will only be sent to students who are registered in the course.

Birth, marriage and death certificates are the fundamental building blocks of genealogical research in Scotland. This course looks at the development of the Statutory Registration system in Scotland. It will provide the practical details needed to understand the system of civil registration, where to find and how to use indexes and certificates. The course looks in detail at what the certificates can tell us and at the legislation that affected what was included in certificates at the different periods and in both copies of the registers and certified copies of the certificates.   

We will also look briefly at other, less well-known, birth, marriage and death registers including the Minor Records, register of Stillbirths and the Register of Adoptions.     

While civil registration started, eighteen years later in Scotland than it did in England and Wales, the records hold much more information and are easier to access. 

Course Length: 7 weeks