Question: I would like to be accredited or certified as a genealogist. Where do I begin?

Answer: There are two accreditation/certification credentialing programs in America. Applicants to both programs sign the Genealogist’s Code of Ethics. Fees are associated with both programs. Both promote high standards in research, scholarship, and publishing.

The accreditation program used to be administered by the Family History Library staff in Salt Lake City. It is now administered by the International Commission for the Accreditation of Professional Genealogists (ICapGen), an independent arm of the Utah Genealogical Association (UGA). (To learn more about the UGA, visit the Web site; write to: UGA, P.O. Box 1144, Salt Lake City, UT 84110-1144; or e-mail info@infouga.org. Examinations are offered for various geographical areas of the world, such as New England states, Southern states, Canada, England, Scotland, and Germany. Successful applicants are designated as Accredited Genealogists.

Certification in several categories has been offered by the Board for Certification of Genealogists (BCG) since 1964. (For more information about the BCG, visit the Web site or write to: BCG, P.O. Box 14291, Washington, DC 20044. Applicants take examinations for the status of Certified Genealogist, Certified Genealogical Records Specialist, Certified Lineage Specialist, and several others. BCG publishes a newsletter, OnBoard, and its roster of certified individuals is posted on the BCG Web site.

Question: How do I find my ancestors in genealogical periodicals? Is there a name index to all periodicals?

Answer: Yes and no. Unfortunately there is not a complete name index to the thousands of genealogies and source articles in genealogical periodicals. If there were such an index, it would be frequently used by genealogists and other researchers. The closest index for broad coverage is the Periodical Source Index, often known as PERSI, which has been produced by the Allen County Public Library in Fort Wayne, Indiana. It is available at large libraries in book form, on microfiche at most LDS family history centers™, on compact disc from Ancestry.com, and online as part of Ancestry.com’s online databases. You should search this index for your ancestors’ names, but realize that it is not an index to every name in every periodical article. In other words, it is a very valuable index, but it does not index all personal names in the thousands of compiled genealogies, church records, gravestone inscriptions, family Bibles, and many other sources published in genealogical and historical periodicals.

Question: Are federal census records available on the Internet?

Answer: Yes and no. Several organizations are presently posting census images on the Internet, and more on this subject is expected in the next few months. You should first check under your state and county of interest at USGenWeb. Many early census indexes are available at the GenWeb site, and also at Ancestry.com (see the AIS Census Index). The 1790 census has been indexed and available in book form for many years. It is indexed in The American Genealogical-Biographical Index, and 1790 census images have been posted online at Ancestry.

Question: I think some of my ancestors were Mormons who came to America in the nineteenth century? Are there sources where they are listed?

Answer: The LDS Church has published a new compact disc known as the Mormon Immigration Index, sometimes called MII. It contains information about LDS immigration voyages from foreign countries, such as England and Denmark, for the years 1840 to 1890. (See my column "New Sources for Tracing LDS Immigrants.") Although not all immigrant Mormons are identified on this CD, it does list about 93,000 LDS immigrants. It is available for $5 from FamilySearch.org. Many additional indexes and sources for tracing LDS immigrants are available at the Family History Library in Salt Lake City or through local family history centers™.

Question: I am planning to use the local family history center™ branch library to find my ancestors. Do you have any suggestions before I begin?

Answer: If you have a computer at home with a CD-ROM drive or DVD-ROM drive, it might be helpful to purchase the Family History Library Catalog on compact disc. It identifies most of the holdings of the Family History Library in Salt Lake City (the catalog is also searchable online, but the CD-ROM version is more up to date). Be sure to use the new “keyword” feature of this catalog. This CD is available for $5 from FamilySearch.org. The Family History Library is the largest genealogical library and has more than 3 million microfilms and thousands of microfiche, books, maps, and other sources. (Read more about this catalog in my column “Using the Family History Library Catalog.”)

Kip Sperry is an associate professor of family history at Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah.