The BCG Education Fund is pleased to announce our Fall 2025 Putting Skills to Work event which will be held virtually Saturday, 8 November 2025, beginning at 11:00 a.m. (Eastern) / 8:00 a.m. (Pacific) and ending at 7:00 p.m (Eastern)/4:00 p.m. (Pacific) including breaks. The cost to register is $95.

Registration opens Thursday 4 September at 12:00 p.m. (Eastern)/ 9:00 a.m. (Pacific) at https://bcgedfund.org/putting-skills-to-work

Attendance is capped at 60 attendees. The event will not be recorded or live-streamed. 

Instructors: Carolyn Ladd, JD, CG, AG and Judy G. Russell, JD, CG, CGL, FUGA

Detailed Workshop Description:

Finding historical records about our families is just the first step to telling their stories fully and accurately. Genealogists and family historians must understand every word of those records in the context of the law that applied at that time and place. This workshop will guide participants through the skills of source citation, transcribing handwritten records, abstracting key details from those records, and analyzing the meaning of the records through the prism of the law with the aim of reconstructing a family’s history. Hands-on exercises in source citation, transcription, abstracting, evidence analysis and legal research and analysis will be key elements.

Attendee Prerequisite Knowledge:

None required.

Pre-Workshop assignment:

Students should carefully read the first two chapters of Elizabeth Shown Mills, Evidence Explained (3d edition, 3d edition revised, or 4th edition).

Please note, this workshop is an updated version of the 2021 Putting Skills to Work workshop, “Understanding the Records, Understanding the Law” led by Stefani Evans, CG, and Judy G. Russell, JD, CG, CGL, FUGA.

Instructor Bios

Carolyn Ladd, JD, CG®, AG® holds a Certified Genealogist® credential from the Board for Certification of Genealogists® and has been accredited in African American genealogy by the International Commission for the Accreditation of Professional Genealogists (ICAPGen). She is a published author -- a book based on her Kinship Determination Project is in the FamilySearch Library. She is passionate about identifying ancestors, learning their stories, and preserving them for future generations. Carolyn is a practicing lawyer and works in-house at a Fortune 100 company.

Judy G. Russell, The Legal Genealogist®, is a genealogist with a law degree who provides expert guidance through the murky territory where law and family history intersect. An internationally-known lecturer and award-winning writer, she holds credentials as a Certified Genealogist® and Certified Genealogical Lecturer® from the Board for Certification of Genealogists® and is a Fellow of the Utah Genealogical Association. Her blog is at https://www.legalgenealogist.com.