Articles by Angela Breidenbach

Angela Breidenbach, PLCGS, is the Executive Director at the International Institute of Genealogical Studies. She's a multi-published author, speaker, and presenter. Find out more about her books at https://AngelaBreidenbach.com

How Can A Mentoring Appointment Help?

How Can A Mentoring Appointment Help?

Student, Judith Tracey, found the help she needed from both her course and a mentoring professor appointment. Here’s her thoughts about what it’s like to attend the International Institute of Genealogical Studies and work with a mentoring professor. “Just a quick note to tell you that I am delighted with my tutorial withLaurie James. She was well prepared, thorough and very personable. I am sograteful for IIGS support with my Irish studies. They are outside of myAmerican Records courses and my lack of familiarity with things Irish makessome aspects of some of the courses quite challenging. I knew from thebeginning that navigating the Irish Registry of Deeds can be difficult, butI was not prepared for the complexities which I experienced. However,Laurie walked me through and we did an example together, and she helped memake sense of it. I was able to return to the collection today (five dayslater) and was able to work my way through, from the index to the memorialbooks, which was the objective. You can only imagine how good that makes mefeel. There is so much information in those documents that I need toretrieve, it would be a pity to be unable to access and explore them. I amrelieved. In closing, I would like to share my positive IIGS ‘Irish experience’, bothwith Claire and Laurie with other students and those considering enrolment.Please let me know where I should post my positive remarks.” Your happy student/client,Judith Tracey International Institute of Genealogical Studies Research With Confidence ~ Study at…

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Ethics Involved with Forensic DNA

Forensic DNA and Forensic Genealogical DNA are in the news with a hot break in a serial rapist case. The following news pieces feature me, the International Institute of Genealogical Studies executive director, Angela Breidenbach. They’re interesting and well done news pieces by the reporters. But what they haven’t had time to report on yet are the ethics issues that are also hotly debated in the genealogical community and legal arenas. Let’s explore those after you watch the two short videos below. The first link is in English. The second is in Spanish. But I think you’ll catch the essence of the story in this breaking news case where genetic genealogy exploded onto the scene in this cold case. After watching, keep reading. I’m not judging the case at all. I don’t have all the details and I’m not the judge and jury. These women deserve to have their case solved and their peace restored. They deserve justice. The goal of this article is to help you think deeply about the various aspects of the broader topic involving ethics and law in genetic genealogy and criminology. Will vicious crimes go down with so much light being put on DNA finding perpetrators? I hope so. The danger of getting caught has often minimized crime in years/centuries past. But, there are still a ton of questions about whether the DNA is compromised or whether the genetic DNA compared against is or isn’t legal, or whether the accused person’s DNA was present along with…

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Genealogy Jobs: Part 2

Genealogy Jobs: Part 2

Quite a few companies hire professional genealogists in a wide variety of positions. If you’d like to work for a company like Ancestry.com, LegacyTree, MyHeritage, legal offices, and hundreds of other small to large businesses, then it’s a matter of matching your skills and experience to the job you’d like to have and/or getting the education you need. …

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