COLLABORATION IN GENEALOGICAL RESEARCH:
REVISED NOTES ON ETIQUETTE
This note is intended for those offering or seeking the cooperation of others in compiling genealogical material, probably for their own family tree.
It is also addressed to those afraid of 'stranger danger' ― when you're tracked down by someone wanting particulars of your family history who leaves you feeling unsure what you are letting yourself in for.
Increasingly, too, websites set up by fellow family historians invite the submission of material. A fresh section has been added to address this new situation.
There are golden rules, there are pitfalls, and you need to be aware of all the pros and cons. Here are some basic guidelines to smooth the path.
Although most website owners are tickled pink if you have something new to add, don't rush in and assume that what you 'know' is wanted. Often it's too late – the website owner has done all he or she wants to, even if it's incomplete, and may not want to backtrack.
Be clear when you make your first approach exactly what you intend to offer. You'll only irritate the website owner if you're mysterious or vague, and you're likely to hear nothing more.
Don't demand that your material is accepted hook, line and sinker. Website owners don't like being dictated to. It's their party!
You won't be able to specify how your material is used. Once it's out of your hands, that's usually it. So don't be surprised if you find 'your' data popping up all over the place, and it won't be attributed to you.
You won't have a copyright on your stuff unless it's material that you 'own': anything else – anything at all in the public domain (ie birth, marriage and death data, wills, and other legal documents) – is fair game for anyone to use anywhere, anytime.
Check you are not duplicating material that's already somewhere else on that website. If you are, you may hear nothing or get a raspberry.
Stick strictly with the proposed submission process. If e-mail addresses are provided, it's no good digging around and finding the site owner's home address, ringing up, or posting wadges of hard copy. You'll make yourself very unpopular, and might even be accused of harrassment.
If you're lucky you'll get a fulsome pat on the back, but don't expect or demand it. Exchanging information is part of the free flow of data that's characteristic of our modern culture.
It's a fact of life that most website owners have their minds on the next thing to fix so they just might forget you ever got in touch. Sorry, but true.
IF YOU ARE APPROACHED FOR INFORMATION
Be cautious. Not everyone is in the business of free and fair exchange. The whole field of family research is littered with instances of people seeking and taking information from others, then cutting them dead and giving nothing in return.
Don't forget, some people are plausible fibbers and want to capture a 'first', so may seek to mislead you: believe nothing until you see it with your own eyes.
Ask who your contact has talked to or approached, or what else has your contact evaluated. You almost certainly won't be the first. Use this opportunity to get a feel for openness and honesty.
Ask what the deal is when the contact is first made. If you are to give information, what will you receive and WHEN? The 'when' can stretch out to infinity: you could be waiting for ever and never hear anything more. Ask for a few samples before you hand anything over yourself, and see what the reaction is.
As a general principle, give nothing until you have received. The person who approaches you will not be starting with a blank slate. He or she will already almost certainly have some information on your own family, perhaps some that you do not possess yourself. Let's face it, you have been tracked down, so there's more to this than you know at first sight.
If there is any cageyness, watch out. Reticence by your contact to explain what has been done so far should send your warning antennae haywire. Don't go any further. Sit tight and wait.
If the contact has less information than you have, then you are in a position to be generous, but WITH STRINGS ATTACHED. Give nothing until you know what is going to happen to your own material. (It's not unknown for people to claim they found it themselves.) Best of all, write or print out your material in narrative form, and copyright your account, keeping a dated copy with a note about the exchange with the contact. (To copyright it, look for forms of words in the front of books, choose one that is suitable, alter to match your own wishes, then write the magic words alongside © (a handwritten copy of this figure, a wee circle with the 'c' inside will do perfectly). What you write is your own copyright, although information in the public domain is not, but this will show you're no fool.)
If you are pestered, and this does happen, write a brief note to say that any further contact will lead you to refer the matter to your solicitor. You'll not have to go that far. Most people don't like lawyers' letters.
If you have one bad experience, don't assume the next person is as tricky: collaboration can yield the most fabulous results, so trust your instincts, act as if you're guarding the Crown Jewels, and you can't go far wrong.
IF YOU ARE SEEKING INFORMATION
A 'must': BEFORE you approach others direct, ie by telephone or mail, have your own up-to-date family tree at the ready with copies printed out. This should be offered to those from whom you solicit information on their own families. You'll show instant transparency and honesty, and that will get you a long way in gaining the confidence of your contacts.
People you approach 'cold' won't be best impressed if you haven't already fully explored other sources before you approach them, including wills which are a rich source of information. So exhaust the usual sources first: the Internet, Public Record Offices, magazines, Family History Societies, the IGI database (Church of the Latter Day Saints), the FreeBMD website, 1837online, census material published by the government, message boards and sites on Roots Web.
All Family History Societies are excellent at offering guidance on these and other sources. Your local library will have lists. Any search engine (eg www.google.com) on the Internet will also list them for you if you enter appropriate key words, such as 'family history', 'researching genealogy', 'genealogical sources'.
When you ask people about their family history, you are delving into the lives of people who may have sensitivities and vulnerabilities you could not guess at, so walk as if on egg-shells. Heavy-handedness, bossiness, dictatorial behaviour, high-handed letters or pestering phone calls demanding information or cooperation are not only offensive but can also cause untold distress, especially to those most likely to be engaged in genealogical research, ie those near to or above retirement age. People in this age bracket expect courtesy and consideration. They are also the most susceptible to stress-related illnesses.
Be prepared to offer more than you gain. You will in all probability have a head-start on anyone you meet face to face or talk to on the phone, at least in some areas you have worked on.
Reciprocity is the name of the game. Give first, and only then ask what you may receive. Indeed, give and you shall receive, not only information but also goodwill and friendship. Nothing is more offensive than to take and never give.
Believe nothing until you see it with your own eyes. Always check family information by going to the original sources, but don't be ungracious or say you're doing this. Plenty of family stories and records are subject to errors, whether of transcription (eg a 1 mistaken for a 7) or pure myth.
Do not aim to peddle your research results for reward. Charging for your own take on what is hardly ever cast-iron certainty when much has been provided by others is appallingly bad form.
Do not expect other people to do things on your behalf without some generous quid pro quo, eg a decent gift, or a guarantee of any new information you come across, or support and friendship. After all, you will have gone looking so as to 'take'.
Updating your collaborators will generate goodwill and may produce untold benefits. Keeping the information flowing from yourself to your contact (even if there is nothing more to gain in terms of information) is a common courtesy in return for favours given to you.
Find a way to freely publish your findings as soon as possible (naturally, omitting reference to the living if you publish outside your own family circle). The most useful and public-spirited medium is the worldwide web, either through your own site or through Roots Web or similar sites such as the Family Search website. (There is plenty of information on the Internet to tell you how to do this, using cheap, occasionally free, software packages.)
Where birth, marriage and death data is already in the public domain, strictly speaking you don't need to seek anyone's consent before you publish. But it's good practice to be meticulous in recording how you found your material, even if your sources want you to withhold their names to protect their privacy. You can easily indicate that you were given the lead by 'a family member', and express your gratitude while you're at it.
When you are given information that is anecdotal, it's pretty shabby to claim you have 'found' it all on your own. See if your informants would like their names included, or links published to their websites or to their e-mail addresses. Remember: the wider the network of links leading back to you, the more it will pay off.
If your sources don't want you to use information that they have personally researched (ie over and beyond data already in the public domain such as births, deaths and marriages, or wills, which you could have unearthed yourself with persistence), respect this.
Remember that letters or any other text generated by someone else is automatically the copyright of the author. Where the writer is dead, the copyright belongs to the estate of deceased person, so you must seek consent from descendants before you publish that kind of material. You can check time limits for copyright on the Internet. Small quotations amounting to a few dozen words are usually acceptable, but it's still good practice to ask first.
State your view on the accuracy of your material. If you're not sure about it, go ahead anyway and offer it complete with caveats. Partial information may make sense to someone else who might pop up with the missing material for you to add in. Say you hope someone can help. People are surprisingly generous when asked.
When you publish your material, give your own contact details: people will get in touch sooner or later, and you may be offered your next lead.
If in doubt, DON'T. If you make the kind of mistakes indicated here, you will not only have made yourself persona non grata but given yourself a bad name. Bad names, like bad smells, spread. And that's the best way of cutting off your own nose to spite your face, as the old saying goes.