VOLUNTEER GENEALOGIST COMMITTEE

The Volunteer Genealogist Committee is here to help your chapter to process applications smoothly, correctly and properly so they will be verified quickly without any requests for further clarification. While the Lineage Research Committee teaches members how to do genealogy and how to find records, the volunteer genealogist is more concerned with papers being properly documented, filled out and teaching what national wants to have on each application.

The VG committee can either give a workshop for your chapter or perhaps find someone in your area who can do one. A workshop can be given to a group of ten or a larger group of several chapters. It is helpful to anyone who helps applicants complete their papers, especially registrars and the lineage research committee.

National used to have a 4 day workshop in D.C. and two day workshops around the country. These have been discontinued. Instead, 3 courses are now offered online. They cost $125 per course. After completing these courses, you may purchase a VG pin and become a volunteer genealogist. The workshops I give will cover the same material.

It is important to send in an accurate and correctly completed application. It is undesirable to have applicants wait another 6 to 8 months searching for further records after they had thought they were finished. We want them to be approved quickly and enjoy their membership as soon as possible. Not spending time on a finished application allows the registrar to focus on her next applicant.Short Forms are no longer allowed. We now have an application program which allows the registrar to fill in the information from an older application and insert the new applicant’s information into the first generations.

Please contact me about a workshop for your chapter or for several chapters. You will benefit greatly by understanding what National is expecting on applications. We are here to help you.

Marcia Connors

3469 W Marsh St.

Fayetteville 72704

479-527-6994