David Rencher, FamilySearch Chief Genealogy Officer, receives the Italian Heraldic Genealogical Institute’s Lifetime Achievement Award at the 36th International Congress of Genealogical and Heraldic Sciences (ICGHS) in Boston, Masschusetts. L-R: Manuel Pardo de Vera Y Díaz, Giorgio Cuneo, and David Rencher.
FamilySearch International’s Chief Genealogical Officer, David Rencher, received the Italian Heraldic Genealogical Institute’s Lifetime Achievement Award at the 36th International Congress of Genealogical and Heraldic Sciences (ICGHS). The award ceremony was held at the international congress’s annual conference on September 27, 2024, in Boston, Massachusetts—marking the first time the ICGHS was held in the United States—and recognized Rencher’s life-long work and influence in advancing the field of genealogy.
The Italian Heraldic Genealogical Institute’s award is the highest distinction offered by the ICGHS and is presented to institutions or individuals recognized for their extraordinary, valuable, and selfless work in favor of the Documentary Sciences of History. The award was presented by Dr. Pier Felice degli Uberti, president of the Istituto Araldico Genealogico Italiano (Italian Heraldic Genealogical Institute).
The distinguishing award was a complete surprise to Rencher. “I am humbled and honored. I was not expecting this,” remarked Rencher. “I appreciate all the great work the (ICGHS) society does and the window it gives us into a field (Heraldry) with which many genealogists are unfamiliar. And they always produce the highest quality content.”
The theme of the ICGHS 2024 event was “Origins, Journeys, Destinations.” Content focused on how heritage and identity (cultural identities) are often shaped by the journeys people make—from overseas migrations and movement of ethnic groups across Europe, to the formation of modern metropolises today. Two overlapping areas of focus were heraldry and genealogy—heraldry being the study of the design, ranks, and meanings of coats of arms, and associated genealogies of families entitled to them.
“Genealogy can benefit from and add to the family groups that heraldic symbols represent. Heraldry was very much a part of European history, and even earlier in other areas of the world. Symbols showed rank and honor,” Rencher explained.
Rencher is part of the ICGHS’s genealogy subcommittee and arranged genealogical education sessions for its conference. “Heraldry exists in many forms: It can be the designs on shields and other attire worn by knights, flags, royal emblems, family crests, the tartans of Scottish clans, and so forth.”
Rencher pointed out that people don’t think much about heraldry in the United States but said it does still have a presence here. For example, nearly all cities, towns, and states have some sort of heraldic shield or coat of arms to symbolize their identity. “Collegiate coats of arms are very much embedded in the Ivy League universities such as Yale and Harvard—but other universities also have some sort of similar symbol,” he added.
FamilySearch has an interest in Heraldry and its ties to helping individuals understand early family connections originating in the medieval period. The FamilySearch Library in Salt Lake City, Utah, has a medieval collection and the FamilySearch Wiki to assist people with this kind of research.