When is not finding a record nothing, and when does it signify something? Information that is not where you expect it to be may yield important evidence for your research question. Understanding the purpose of a source — who and what it records, and why — will help you determine if the missing person or event is negative evidence or merely a negative search. A series of examples demonstrate methodologies used to create something out of nothing.
Denise Cross, MSLIS, CG, is a community college librarian who enjoys research, especially digging deep for an elusive answer. Researching her family since the 1990s, she began formalized education in genealogy with the Boston University Certificate Program in Genealogical Research in 2015. The course opened up the world of methodology to extract indirect evidence from records. Her focus is writing and she has published several articles since 2016. She is a winner of the 2020 AGS Scholar Award and was granted the Certified Genealogist credential the same year.
BCG’s next free monthly webinar in conjunction with Legacy Family Tree Webinars is “Negative Evidence: Making Something Out of Nothing” by Denise E. Cross, MSLIS, CG. This webinar airs Tuesday, June 21, 2022, at 8:00 p.m. EDT.
When you register before June 21 with our partner Legacy Family Tree Webinars (http://legacy.familytreewebinars.com/?aid=6793) you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar. Anyone with schedule conflicts may access the webinar at no charge for one week after the broadcast on the Legacy Family Tree Webinars website.
“We are pleased to present these high-quality educational webinars,” said President LaBrenda Garrett-Nelson, JD, LLM, CG, CGL, FASG. “The Board for Certification of Genealogists promotes public confidence in genealogy by supporting uniform standards of competence. We strive to provide educational opportunities to family historians of all levels of experience.”
Following the free period for this webinar, BCG receives a small commission if you view this or any BCG webinar by clicking our affiliate link: (http://legacy.familytreewebinars.com/?aid=2619).