Are Genealogy Web Sites Harmful to Societies?

Jim Beidler recently wrote an interesting article about conversations he has had with Jonathan Stayer, the head of reference for the Pennsylvania State Archives. Stayer believes that "Societies have lost members in the last 10 years as a critical mass of genealogical data has moved to the Internet."

True? Or has the Internet brought in millions more people who did not research their family trees in a pre-Internet world?

You can find Jim Beidler's interesting article at: http://www.ldnews.com/columns/ci_8034197.

I wrote an article two years ago offering the exact opposite opinion. I am republishing that article here. The following article was originally published in Eastman's Online Genealogy Newsletter on December 27, 2005:

Heritage Societies Reported to be Growing

Warning: This article contains personal opinions.

I often hear reports that genealogy societies are shrinking. The numbers of members reportedly are falling annually; and therefore, budgets also are constantly shrinking. Attendance at some of the long-established national conferences also is declining. The reasons given vary although "competition from the Internet" seems to be the most common explanation offered.

It was with pleasant surprise that I read this week that heritage societies are doing the opposite: they are growing comfortably.

First of all, perhaps a bit of definition is in order. A genealogy society typically covers a geographic area. It may serve people who live in a particular county or state, or it may serve those who have ancestry from a particular area. Many do both. For instance, the New Hampshire Genealogical Society holds seminars and other events within the state for people who can travel to attend these in-person meetings. The topics typically are a blend of New Hampshire-related ancestry and a wide variety of other topics. The same society also publishes journals and books about various topics related to New Hampshire ancestry, of interest to local members as well as to those who live afar but have New Hampshire roots.

In contrast, heritage societies (or lineage societies) usually are focused on serving the descendants of those who participated in one event or lived in one area in past years. Examples of heritage societies include the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR), an organization with membership open to any woman who can trace her ancestry to at least one Revolutionary Patriot. The Sons of the American Revolution is a somewhat similar society for men. The Mayflower Society is for descendants of the original passengers on that ship in 1620. The National Society of Daughters of the British Empire in U.S.A. is for women residing in the U.S. who are of British or British Commonwealth heritage by birth, naturalization, or proven ancestry. There are many, many other heritage organizations. See http://www.cyndislist.com/soc-lineage.htm for a list.

Jacqueline L. Urgo of the Knight Ridder Newspapers has written an article that ignores genealogy societies but paints a glowing picture of heritage societies' membership. She writes that the Daughters of the American Revolution, the Mayflower Society, and other heritage societies are growing in membership, primarily because they are shedding their old images as elitist organizations and are now appealing to mainstream Americans.

Urgo reports that the Mayflower Society - which has been around since 1897 and invites people to join who can trace their lineage back to the Pilgrims - saw its membership decline for many years but now has seen an increase in membership every year for the last eight. In short, the organization's membership has grown as the popularity of the Internet has exploded. Membership has grown from 26,600 in 1997 to a peak of about 30,000 today.

The New Jersey and Pennsylvania chapters of that organization for years had experienced declines but now have now seen increases in the last two years.

The Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) reports increases of as much as 10 percent annually in various states over the last five years, with a total membership of 170,000 members worldwide at the end of 2005. In New York City, DAR chapters have formed that cater exclusively to working women. In Florida, chapters have sprung up everywhere from college campuses to retirement communities. One chapter has seen membership increase from 35 members five years ago to more than 125 this year.

What is the reason for this increase in membership? Again, the stated reasons vary widely. However, the most-often mentioned reason for growth is publicity on the Internet, exactly the same reason most often given for the decline of genealogy societies! The article quotes Alice Teal, editor of the national Mayflower Society Quarterly, as saying that the Mayflower Society's New Jersey chapter has grown " exponentially with the growth of the Internet."

So, why do heritage societies achieve growth from the same service that reportedly is the cause of genealogy societies' shrinkage? My crystal ball probably isn't any clearer than anyone else's. However, I suspect that the Internet is NOT the cause of any society's decline. I believe that this is simply a convenient scapegoat, used by people who do not take the time or energy to look harder for the real causes.

The article by Jacqueline L. Urgo focuses on two explanations for the growth of heritage organizations:

1. Publicity generated on the Internet at very low costs to the organizations.
2. A shift in focus by the societies. Many of these organizations are now recruiting typical Americans: working class people, those who live in mobile homes, farmers' wives, senior citizens, college students, and those of every race and creed.

Perhaps the genealogy societies and others who are seeing shrinkage in membership numbers should study the successes of other organizations and make similar adjustments.

You can read Jacqueline L. Urgo's interesting article at ... (Urgo's article was available online when this was written in 2005 but is no longer available today).

Comments

[W. David Samuelsen]

Shrinking? What I have seen is growth, growth, growth. Even among the deaf.

first genealogical society is being organized to exclusively for the Deaf genealogists this year. It will be in Salt Lake City June 18-21.

[Judith Arnn-Knight]

I would agree with Dick--at least in my own case. I never joined a society until after I started researching my family. Many of the local documents contained in their publications will never be on the internet; in addition I have linked up with distant family members and collaterals doing research on the same families. I consider my memberships one of the most important aspects of my research.

[Barbara A. Dethlefsen]

I'd been been interested in genealogy for all of my adult life and had many notes and some documents, but didn't really know how to organize them, document the information I had or do new research. Our local library began a genealogy research group and it has made all the difference. You learn from both the guest speakers and other members.

[Mike More]

My own group's membership had declined by 5-8% annually for years but that has lessened recently to about a 2% decline. From over a thousand members, we are now less than 600. Yet attendance at our annual conference remained the same. I have no doubt that the membership drop was caused by the Internet. Why pay money to get a newsletter (that had to be read) when "everything is on the Internet". However, as the new genealogists realize that they cannot get it all for free through their modem, some are starting to join groups. Is this a blib or have they realized that genealogical groups can provide them with help and networking in their hobby?

[ingrid]

I started working on my family history about 8 years ago. Since then, I have joined several out of state societies because my family history is in those other states. Some states, are SO over priced for society membership, that they are completely inaccessible to average people. Maybe that's why they are losing members.

[Ray Marshall]

I am one of those who have let my memberships in "genealogical societies" lapse and have been doing most of my research on the internet or in other countries.

The main reason for my switch is that I have done all my important U.S. research and am now engaged in attempting to find the homes of great grandparents in Europe.

I have owned a personal computer since 1989 and have been engaged in internet research since its public beginning, back in 1995 or so.

It used to be that the free internet surname and location lists were jammed with subscribers, most regularly posting their family information and queries.

Many people achieved a great deal of success that way and were sure to let others know of that success by posting important information.

It is my impression now that while there may be many who sign up for the free mail lists, few are taking advantage of them by either posting information on their known families and their research queries. They seem to be waiting for someone else to make the needed posts. Many lists have very few posts in any one month.

Ancestry seems to be doing well, but it is my impression that their strength is in US and UK records and not tremendously useful for most other countries. Perhaps other of the fee based lists that have databases are doing well also.

I would imagine that LDS Family History Center attendance and film rentals/usage would be a good indicator of the popularity of genealogy. Their microfilm is for most of us still the most important asset. How wonderful will it be when they digitize all of it and we won't even have to drive to their Centers!

[BigAzonie]

When I began (ca 1966) we had State and County Societies, magazines (Genealogical Helper), Journals (NEHGS) and it was all Snail mail. Joining a County group ran about $10 a year, State about $60. Annual cost was about $200. total. Seminars were extra, but worth every penny - IF you read the offering and picked what YOU needed. It was NOT free, nor did we expect it to be.
Then the Internet arrived. Not too many computer-savvy folks at first. My membership continued because some items will NEVER be on line, and it gives me a personal contact when I go back there or need a local lookup.
Lost a lot of folks who thought Ancestry could give them ALL they needed. They also bought into the "it is all free" mentality or wanted to amass garbage Gedcoms for their data bases. They will always be with us (sigh !)
If they stayed in Genealogy, they are coming back to local sources, checking closely.
Now we have RAOGK, Findagrave (Horray for digital cameras !), State VR's on line and Heritage Quest, etc.
BUT - local groups need to be stronger and work on better web sites.
Use ALL the resources available today, because we are all the better for progress.
One complaint: I would like to see the County newsletters made available electronically with your membership. It can now be done. Is/was a real pain to print, address and snail 100+ of them.

[Happy Dae]

I have joined 6 societies since researching on the Internet. And I cannot even count the number of friends I have made nor the amount of additional data they've helped me find on my ancestors. Get involved!

Happy Dae.
http://www.ShoeStringGenealogy.com

[Concetta]

I would love to be a member of a society - I was a member of one for a number of years, actually.

I have three problems with societies:

-They either vilify or ignore the Internet and its potential for growing their society.

-They are made of people age 50+ and make little to no effort to reach out to young people.

-They have all of their events on business days before 5 pm.

As someone who has been researching for over ten years, I'm very offput by those three factors whenever I visit a new society. They are literally causing their own doom.

The reason the heritage societies are growing is because they have embraced the idea that people younger than 50 can be careful genealogists, that they can have programming on weekends and nights as well as during the day, and they give out information on their meeting times and locations and what they have on the Internet to make sure people can find them!

[Carlos]

Here in Santa Barbara we have a wonderful library with over 8000 reference books and 400 CDs. However, their hours leave a bit to be desired (for working folks):

Tuesday: 10:00 AM - 3:00 PM
Thursday: 10:00 AM - 3:00 PM
Friday: 10:00 AM - 3:00 PM
Sunday: 1:00 PM - 4:00 PM
Third Saturday: 1:00 PM to 4:00 PM after the general meeting by appointment

Consequently, when I do take time off work to go there, I'm always tripping over the walkers and canes of the other patrons.

[Clark County Chapter of the OGS]

We at the Clark County ,Ohio genealogical office have a membership that is stable, the amount of research requests we get is more than we can handle at times. We try to get requests answered within 30 days. We have a fabulous research library and have access to estates from 1818 til about 1960. Most births and deaths if they occured in Clark County, Ohio. Our office is in The Fisher Family Library and is part of the Clark County Heritage Center. Give us a try.

[Michael Parks+]

I am the Executive Director for The Parke Society, Inc., A clearinghouse for information on PARK/E/S who came to North America from the British Isles. We have been in existence since 1963. I have been with The Society since 1980, and I do feel that the Internet has had a negative effect on our size and growth. The reason people most often give when pressed for why they are not renewing is that its all on the internet for free, so why pay for membership in a surname society? Of course those of us who really do genealogy, know that there is only a measured truth as to the veracity of the materials to be found on the Internet. Orginal documents (like on Ancestry.com) are wonderful. But materials on One World Tree and similar sites with compiled genealogy are often nothing more than copies of other people's erroneous works. We just try to continue on our course, and to be what we started out to be, a clearinghouse, pure and simple. Michael Tad Parks+