Our History

based on a 2014 blog post by Jill N. Crandell, AG®

The Accredited Genealogist® credential is awarded by the International Commission for the Accreditation of Professional Genealogists (ICAPGen℠). Historically, this credential was sponsored by the Genealogical Society of Utah, now known as FamilySearch. In 2000 the Genealogical Society of Utah transferred sponsorship of the AG® credential to ICAPGen. Today ICAPGen remains fully independent of any other organization.

The beginning

By 1964, two credentialing programs had been developed by two separate sponsoring organizations, forever changing the world of professional genealogy. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints founded the Genealogical Society of Utah (GSU) in 1894 for the purpose of assisting church members in identifying their ancestors. ¹ By 1924, the GSU board established a Research Bureau with responsibilities that included undertaking member research requests at a low cost. By October 1961, the volume of requests overwhelmed the research department, and they were five years behind in completing requests. On 19 November 1962, the GSU minutes reflect, “We are unable to work out our backlog of research orders.” ² The board suggested that professional researchers outside of the society were needed to relieve the volume of requests. Board members were concerned that the Genealogical Society of Utah should only recommend qualified researchers. In response, “Frank Smith and Henry Christiansen were appointed to meet and prepare testing outlines to license researchers for commercial research in [the GSU] library.” ³ Almost a year later in April 1964, Eric B. Christensen passed the Danish exam and became the first Accredited Genealogist® researcher. ⁴

Professional genealogists responded positively to credentialing, and by the end of 1964, eighteen individuals held a total of twenty-four accreditations.⁵ Within a two year period, the Accredited Genealogist® program quickly relieved the backlog of requests in the GSU research department, and on 13 April 1966, the board decided to discontinue patron research by the end of the calendar year.⁶ As of 31 December 1966, eighty-eight professional genealogists held 110 accreditations in sixteen testing areas of the world.⁷

The GSU administered accreditation exams for thirty-five years, resulting in a steady increase in the number of genealogists holding the AG® credential. At the end of 1999, GSU considered various options for ending its sponsorship of the accreditation program. On 25 February 2000, the UGA board created an Accreditation Committee.⁸

ICAPGen Takes Over

The Genealogical Society of Utah officially transferred its sponsorship of accreditation to the International Commission for the Accreditation of Professional Genealogists (ICAPGen) on 31 August 2000, with Jimmy B. Parker, Ray T. Clifford, and Jill N. Crandell as founding commissioners.⁹ During its sponsorship of the accreditation program, GSU granted a total of 546 accreditations to 477 genealogists.¹⁰

The articles of incorporation for ICAPGen state the organization’s primary purposes “to promote high standards of genealogical and family history research, and foster expertise and ethical practices among all genealogists; to provide opportunities for the education, instruction, and training of candidates for the accreditation process; to distribute the names and contact information of Accredited Genealogists in good standing; to support the work of local, state, and national genealogical and historical organizations, and to promote and foster the active interest in and scholarly reputation of genealogy.”¹¹

The Program Grows

Over the years, the accreditation program has continued to grow and adapt to the progress of technology and today’s research strategies. Techniques for locating and searching digitized sources could not have been imagined in the microfilm era of 1964. Historically, tests administered by the Genealogical Society of Utah were conducted exclusively at the Family History Library in Salt Lake City, Utah, and the travel expense prevented some from completing their credentialing process. Today, the ICAPGen commission proctors exams at various repositories around the world, and a number of oral boards have been conducted through electronic meetings. The testing process has been divided into three levels, allowing applicants the opportunity to test in sections, with preparation time between. As we look forward to the next 50 years, it is exciting to anticipate the growth of professionalism and credentialing in the genealogy field.