Guild of One-Name Studies
The Guild of One-Name Studies is a charitable organisation dedicated to promoting the public understanding of one-name studies and the preservation and accessibility of the resultant information. Founded in 1979 in Britain, the Guild has members all over the world, and is widely recognised as a centre of excellence in one-name studies.
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History
In the early 1970s, amongst the handful of societies for family historians in the UK, there were just a few specialising in a single name. The newly formed Federation of Family History Societies encouraged one-name groups to affiliate. The policy was so successful that by 1977, one third of the member societies in the Federation were one-name groups.
The Federation formed a sub-committee to foster one-name studies. One of its initiatives was to sponsor a Register of one-name studies. This register was compiled by Colonel Iain Swinnerton, based on data originally assembled by the late Frank Higenbottam, and first published in 1977. The Federation was also instrumental in organising the first weekend conference on one-name studies in Leicester, England, in May 1978. At that conference it was decided to launch a new organisation for one-namers. The Guild of One-Name Studies formally came into being on 1st September 1979 at a meeting in Plymouth. It was registered as an unincorporated association with the Charity Commission on 21st September 1989 (Registered Charity No. 802048). Its objectives and the rules governing the Guild's operation are laid down in its Constitution (last amended in February 2006)
The decision to call it a guild was partly inspired by the notion that medieval guilds had encouraged professionalism along with mutual aid, as well as by a whimsical desire to create the acronym GOONS, evoking a popular British radio humorous show, The Goon Show, and making a self-mocking comment on the quixotic nature of one-name studies. From time to time there are efforts to discourage use of this deprecating acronym, but it is in widespread use in the genealogical world and difficult to suppress.
As a small organisation, the Guild has no employed staff. The fact that its members conduct some of the world's most ambitious and sustained family history projects with international scope has brought it special standing in the genealogy world. Its development has been mostly harmonious, with only occasional friction over policy or spending. It has co-operated closely with the Halsted Trust, created by legacy, which promotes one-name studies.
While one-name studies have mainly been popular in Britain, thanks to that country's unified and open vital records, the Guild has always officially insisted that every study it recognises should be worldwide in scope, and has sought to cater for non-British studies in its basic methodological advice.
One-name studies
A one-name study is a project researching all occurrences of a surname, as opposed to a particular pedigree (ancestors of one person) or descendancy (descendants of one person or couple). Some "one-namers" may restrict their research geographically, perhaps to one country, but true one-namers collect all occurrences worldwide. The Guild only accepts true one-name studies for registration, although anyone with an interest in one-name studies is welcome to become a member.
Typically, the researchers will also study the etymology of the surname, and its geographical distribution. Sometimes, especially if the surname is also a place name, they will try to identify the place or places of origin of the surname, employing the normal methods of genealogy.
The Guild's objectives
The objectives of the Guild of One-Name Studies are:
• to advance the education of the public in one-name studies (defined as research into the genealogy and family history of all persons with the same surname and its variants), and
• to promote the preservation and publication of the resultant data, and to maximize its accessibility to interested members of the public.
The Guild is the worldwide centre of excellence in one-name studies and promotes the interests of both individuals and groups who are engaged in them. Through its programme of activities it provides the means to share, exchange and publish information about one-name studies. It also encourages and assists those interested in one-name studies by means of conferences, seminars and many other activities and projects.
Membership
At its foundation, the Guild had about 200 members. At present (2010), it has slightly more than 2,300, whose names are presented in a Register published both on-line and on paper. The Register shows that slightly more than 2,300 studies are being conducted involving a total of about 7,850 surnames.
Some 20 per cent of the membership present their findings through a website. Guild members can also publicise their studies through a profile created on the Guild's website. As an indicator of digitised methods, 89 per cent of the members have an e-mail address registered with the Guild.
The addresses of members show the bulk to be living in Britain, but with significant numbers in North America, Australia and New Zealand.
Activities
The principal meeting places of the Guild are its on-line mailing list, the Guild Forum, and its Seminars and Annual Conferences, which are mostly held in England. As an organisation, its principal role has been to debate and distribute advice on methods for one-name studies. Members have collated a wiki of such advice, but this is not yet publicly available.
To meet the concern of members that one-name compilations are often lost to posterity when researchers die and their papers are destroyed, the Guild Archive, an electronic repository for members' one-name records, has been created and guidelines laid down on bequests of digital data to the Guild.
The Guild Marriage Index, a facility to help members find the names of marriage partners and identify from index numbers where post-1837 marriages took place in England and Wales, is likely to become the Guild's main contribution to the wider field of family history.
Publications
The Guild's initial periodical was the Guild of One-Name Studies Newsletter, published quarterly for eight issues from January 1980 to October 1981 on corner-stapled, typescript foolscap sheets under editor Frank Higenbottam. This was followed by the Journal of One-Name Studies, with binding, also quarterly, from 1982 to the present. Its current editor (2010) is Keith Bage.
The Register of One-Name Studies published annually, lists all one-name studies currently registered by Guild members. The Guild also publishes booklets of advice such as One-Name Family History Groups by Derek Palgrave.
Who runs the Guild?
The Guild is run by the members for the members – there are no paid officials. The affairs of the Guild are managed by a Committee and its members are also the Trustees of the Registered Charity. The Committee comprises no more than fifteen Guild members, of whom four are designated Officers, namely Chairman, Vice-Chairman, Secretary, and Treasurer. All Trustees are appointed for one year at the Guild Annual General Meeting. Full details of the Committee and other postholders can be found on the Guild website and principal postholders are also listed in each quarterly issue of the Journal of One-Name Studies.
The Guild's virtual office
The Guild's UK contact telephone number is 0800 011 2182. This is a freephone number, manned by the Guild’s Front Office Manager, and is available to all who wish to contact the Guild. Members of the Guild, especially those members who do not have online access to the Guild’s website, can also use it. Where the Front Office Manager is unable to answer a query, he or she will pass it on to the most appropriate Committee member or Guild postholder.
The Guild's North American telephone number (toll free)is 1-800-647 4100.
The Guild's freephone telephone number in Australia is 1-800-305-184.
See also
External links
- The Guild of One-Name Studies official website
- The Guild on Facebook
- The Guild on GenealogyWise
- The Guild on Twitter
Licence
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation Licence. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Guild of One-Name Studies".
