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12 About Genealogical Standards of Evidence
In fact, many of the records we are now able to consult were
simply not accessible when some of these books were
published. We are very fortunate today that so much work
was done in the twentieth century, and continues to be
done today, to recover "lost" documentary material, to
restore and catalogue it and to prepare finding aids and
indexes for it.
One of the landmarks in the study of genealogy on this
continent was the appearance in 1930 of a book called
Genealogy as Pastime and Profession by Donald Lines Jacobus, a
man considered by his peers and honoured today as "the
founder of this modern American school of critical
genealogists'y3 At that time there may have been thousands
of family histories in print, but there was scarcely one about
the techniques and methods of good genealogical research.
It is a fitting tribute to this man's talent and perception that
over 70 years later the book is still relevant - and even
compelling - reading. As a sidebar, Jacobus' legacy
continues in the scholarly and prestigious periodical he
founded, now called The American Genealogist.
From the twentieth century on, more and more
genealogical societies were and have been formed to provide
support, information and fellowship for growing numbers
of family historians. Societies began publishing their own
periodicals to assist their membership and preserve local
information. Workshops and other methods of instruction
have become necessary. Textbooks proliferate. The
custodians of the source materials used by genealogists -
archivists, librarians and government officials - have had
to recognize and adapt to this surge in public demancl.

Natural leaders in the field have emerged as teachers 2.
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Rfilton Rubincam, in the Introduction to the Second Edition F
of Getzealogy as Pastime and Pr.fes~iotz (Baltimore, Genealogical Pub
Company, 1968).