I just got the following NGS news release about a 1986 recording of John Coddington and Milton Rubincam that’s been made available again. The news release is below.
This reminds me. Somewhere here I have several hour-long recordings of both of these men, who were instructors at the 1982 National Institute on Genealogical Research in Washington D.C. I made the recordings during classes held at the National Archives, where the event was held and I was a student that year. Milton reveiwed and graded my project paperwork – a project that I did on my great-grandfather, Henry Canfield. Goodness, has it really been 30 years ago that I sat in those wonderful classes? Yes – 30 years in July…
Arlington, VA, 23 JUNE 2012: During 2012, the National Genealogical Society is celebrating the 100th Anniversary of the NGS Quarterly. The past ten decades have been marked by extraordinary contributions from many scholars who have advanced the field of genealogy and whose thinking is mainly available through print media. For the NGSQ anniversary, NGS created a historical video series, Voices of Genealogy, to capture on film many of the notable genealogists of our time. As a complement to the Voices of Genealogy video series, the National Genealogical Society and Repeat Performance are re-releasing a special collectors’ audio recording of an NGS “Ask the Experts” session from the 1986 NGS Conference in the States held in Columbus, Ohio. It featured Milton Rubincam and John Insley Coddington, two of the more prominent genealogists of the previous generation.
In the NGS “Ask the Experts” recording, Rubincam and Coddington answer questions from the audience about how to research a particular problem or where to find a historical record before the availability of the Internet and search engines, such as Google. Their answers and suggestions represent the best genealogical thinking of that era and urge consideration of many issues that still plague researchers today, like the problem of incomplete indexes and the limitations of not considering enough source material. This rare audio recording is an important asset for collectors and the study of notable genealogical contributors.
Milton Rubincam (1909‒1997) was the 21st and 26th president of the National Genealogical Society. He was book review editor and assistant editor for the NGS Quarterly for many years and editor from 1957‒1962. He was chairman of the Board for Certification of Genealogists (1964–1978). He was elected an NGS Fellow in 1957 and inducted into the NGS Hall of Fame in 2003. He was also a Fellow of the Genealogical Society of Pennsylvania and the Utah Genealogical Association. The 100th Anniversary issue of the NGS Quarterly, March 2012, Volume 100, Number 1, features a reprint of “The Genealogist’s Contribution to History” by Milton Rubincam.
John Insley Coddington (1902‒1991) was editor of the NGS Quarterly for three issues after Rubincam. He was elected an NGS Fellow in 1978 and inducted into the NGS Hall of Fame in 1997. He was a Fellow of the American Society of Genealogists, Genealogical Society of Pennsylvania, Texas State Genealogical Society, and the Society of Genealogists of London. He was fluent in several languages and wrote over 200 articles for the NGSQ and other genealogical journals.
You can order a copy of this historic interview, “Ask the Experts”(item #COO-15), from Repeat Performance at http://www.audiotapes.com/conf.asp?ProductCon=2012 (or http://goo.gl/mY5ZP). Be sure to use the item #COO-15 when searching for this recording. It is available in three mediums: CD-ROM for $10.00, cassette tape for $8.50, or MP3 for $6.00, plus $2.00 for shipping. Shipping for additional items in the same order is $1.00 each. Or you can save the cost of shipping and download an MP3 for $5.00. There is also a link to order “Ask the Experts” on the NGS website at http://www.ngsgenealogy.org.
Voices of Genealogy is a historical video archive of some of the most notable genealogists of our time, produced by award winning filmmakers Kate Geis and Allen Moore, for members of the National Genealogical Society. Many of the leading scholars in the field of genealogy discuss how they became interested in family history research, their contributions to the field, and how genealogy progressed in the twentieth century. Interviews are being released throughout 2012 in celebration of the 100th Anniversary of the National Genealogical Society Quarterly and can be viewed by NGS members at http://www.ngsgenealogy.org/cs/videos_online.
Founded in 1903, the National Genealogical Society is dedicated to genealogy education, high research standards, and the preservation of genealogical records. The Arlington, Virginia-based nonprofit is the premier national society for everyone, from the beginner to the most advanced family historian, seeking excellence in publications, educational offerings, research guidance, and opportunities to interact with other genealogists.
