Retrospect and Prospect

Retrospect and Prospect An Editorial T HIS Diamond Jubilee year of the Genealogical Society of Penn- sylvania is an appropriate time for a review and new appraisal of the editorial policies of The Pennsylvania Genealogical Magazine, now in its seventy-second year of publication. As the official organ of the Society, the raison d'etre of which is the "promotion of genealogical research, the collection, preservation or transcription of registers of births, marriages and deaths kept by religious societies or individuals, and of all kinds of official records affording genealogical information," it is to be expected that the Magazine would reflect these aims. Just how this has been accomplished during its seventy-one years of publication may be seen in a review of the twenty-four volumes published to date. In 1895, three years after the founding of the Society, its Board of Directors came to the conclusion it would be desirable to place before the Society's members "some part of the valuable papers from time to time received," thereby making them more available to the members at large. These would be incorporated with succeeding Annual Reports, the first two of which had already been published in pamphlet form. A Committee on Publication, comprising L. Taylor Dickson, P. S. P. Conner and Gilbert Cope, was charged with the publication of the first issue of such records from the Society's Collections; it appeared as "Miscellany No. 1" of the Publications of the Genealogical Society of Pennsylvania. Each of the four issues making up the first volume of the Publications was termed a "Miscellany." When Volume II appeared in 1900, that designation was dropped. Reflecting "the primary object of the Society [which] has always been to collect original records and material for genealogical and historical research rather than to turn their attention to the building of pedigrees,' these two volumes and the next two included only primary source material from the Collections, an occasional address made before an Annual Meeting, and the Annual Reports of the Society's .Publkations of the Genealogical Society of Pennsylvania, I, 5. ales'. 45 The Pennsylvania Genealogical Magazine 46 Board. These Reports listed the source material — church registers, cemetery inscriptions, abstracts of wills and similar material — which had been transcribed, indexed, bound and placed on the Society's shelves. Financial reports were always included, as well as information on the state of the Society's membership. No article dealing with a particular family was published during the first twenty-two years of publication. Then, in the last issue of Volume VI (1915 - 1917) the first one appeared,' along with a "List of Manuscripts in the Collections" of the Society; a section devoted to "Notes, Queries and Corrections," and accessions by donations which were listed for the first time. Volume VII (1918 - 1920) of the Publications contained four family accounts,' and for the first time notices of recently published books. The usual publication of source material from the Collections, Annual Reports, addresses and memorial notices made up the balance of the volume. The next five volumes — VIII to XIII — followed the same general pattern, each containing at least two family papers. In the introduction to the Shelf List of the Society's holdings, published in 1939 in Volume XIII, the current policy of the Publication Committee was again set forth: The Society's Publications are, primarily, the Annual Reports from the Officers and Board of Directors to the Society at large. They tell the intimate story of the gain and loss in membership; of the accessions by gift or purchase, of the sometimes sad state of a treasury nurtured by faith in the future. In addition, they are an attempt to preserve the fast vanishing evidences of the past, human documents which begin in the yellowing pages of family Bibles or church registers, and end in probate records and churchyard inscriptions. To its far-flung membership, these messages are the Society's only visibility, the justification for its being.' This emphasis on Annual Reports reflects perfectly the content of the Publications and the policy of the Publication Committees during this initial phase of publication. There was no real pretension to being a scholarly journal, and there was only incidental interest in the presentation of individual family histories, which, though following a consistent pattern, did not conform to the by then generally accepted style exhibited in scholarly journals of the period. Not until eight more years Mrs. Annie Bloodgood Parker, "Captain Frans Bloodgood of Flushing, Long Island, and Some of His Descendants," ibid., VI, No. 3, 229. 9 Josiah Granville Leach, "Some Amount of the Pawling Family of New York and Pennsylvania," ibid., VII, 26 et seq.; "Memorials of the %mass Family of Philadelphia," contributed by Anna J. Magee, in which a footnote cmdits 5. Granville Leach as the compiler, ibid., 107; 9The Perkins Family, a Sketch of Intercolonial Migration," begun by Emily Ritchie Perkins and completed "by another hand," ibid., 163; Josiah Granville Leach, "Hendrick Van Leuvenigh of New Castle County, Delaware, and Some of His Deuendatal," ibid., 207. o Ibid., mu, no. Retrospect and Prospect 47 passed were the Committee's policies altered to any extent. By then, most of the founding fathers were gone and a new, increasingly active generation of genealogists had moved into the forefront. Drastic changes were initiated as the magazine entered its second phase of development. Under a new policy authorized by the Board of Directors in March 1947, the Publications, beginning with Volume XVI in 1948, henceforth were called The Pennsylvania Genealogical Magazine. In the future the Publication Committee might "accept for publication interesting and scholarly articles dealing with Pennsylvanians and their families;" "lists of tombstone inscriptions, pastoral lists of baptisms, marriages and burials, and similar data" were to "be allotted a much smaller space in future numbers of the Magazine than has been accorded in the past;" Annual Reports were to be greatly condensed, and the accessions given in greater detail.' During this second phase of publication, Annual Reports as such were dropped entirely after 1951, thereafter appearing informally only as "Our Principal Activities" in Volume XIX, and as "Review of the Year's Activities" in Volumes XXI, XXII and in the Number 2 issue of Volume XXIII. Accessions of genealogical material by the Historical Society of Pennsylvania appeared only in Volumes XVI and XVII.' For a time there was an "Editor's Page;" "Notes and Queries" appeared spasmodically, and in Volume XX book reviews were once more included. Extended family histories were prominently featured, in some issues to the exclusion of any other material. Exhibiting a high quality of genealogical research, each study was copiously documented, but in such a varied fashion that the reader, whether novice, amateur or professional genealogist, frequently had difficulty in relating the notes to the text, or in identifying the sources cited. When the present Editor was appointed to the Publication Committee in 1958, during the issuance of Volume XXI, her chief concern was with this lack of uniformity in the presentation of genealogical articles. Although the research was excellent, the individual reportorial styles were so diverse that no coherent pattern was visible in the published papers. As exhibits of scholarly research, they fell short of the typographical standards by then firmly established in scholarly historical journals; it was evident that genealogists had little concept of typography, or of the accepted techniques of publication. This is not to say that all genealogical reporting should be identical, Ibid., XV, 277 These had been compiled by Miss Corona E. Kerns of the Historical Society, and were discontinued after her death. 48 The Pennsylvania Genealogical Magazine and conform to historical reporting in all respects. They are not the same. Furthermore, there are many ways in which a family history may be presented. But the numbered tabulation of a family, for instance —which does not occur in historical articles — should follow a uniform pattern, the one familiar to all genealogists. Moreover, the accepted pattern of extended biographical studies, where a man's personal life, his public or military activities, his economic interests, are usually treated separately, is not the clearest way to present in a genealogical study the condensed account of his entire life. The genealogical identification of an individual is based on the chronological sequence of events: occurring over a span of years these events serve to isolate him from all others. By a relatively strict adherence to that chronology, cause and effect may be inferred or established so that the individual emerges — in greater or less detail according to the sources available — from the dim pages of history. With this general concept in mind, your Editor has striven to standardize in some measure the presentation of family studies. The attendant form of documentation, heretofore lacking consistency, also has been standardized in accordance with accepted scholarly styles. The citation of sources, punctuation, use of italics, footnote numbering, etc., are now identical in every article. The aim is to show that genealogical articles can be presented in as scholarly a form as are articles having historical content. To achieve this has required considerable editorial revision and correction, for it is evident that not all good genealogists are good reporters. Too many of them fail to take the time to present their papers neatly and legibly, or in a style consistent with good editorial practice. Documentation, quotations and citations have to be checked. A varying amount of rewriting of ten has to be done when writers do not make their points clear. Weaknesses in organization sometimes have to be restudied. But whatever rewriting has to be done is solely for the benefit of the article and the author, not for the sake of rewriting. The publication of source material in the Magazine is still considered one of the primary functions of the Society. The value of the dissemination of such data, not only to the Society's members but to interested students, both historical and genealogical, has been amply demonstrated by the continuing demand for back issues.' In the publication of such material, every effort is being made to translate it into print as exactly as possible. The subject matter is no longer limited to the holdings of Mors than iighty scholastic and general libraries us on the current subscription list. Retrospect and Prospect 49 the Society, but is selected on the basis of its Pennsylvania connotations and its basic research value. The accessions lists, reinstated as part of the Magazine in 1963, and now appearing once a year, serve to notify members and students what genealogical material is coming in to both the Genealogical Society and to the Historical Society. The quantity of these accessions precludes any detailed description beyond noting the extent of each donation, whether it is indexed or not, and the library call number assigned each item. The section on book reviews makes no pretension to being all-inclusive. Relatively few printed works are submitted to the Publication Committee for review, but when they are, they are reviewed in the Magazine. From time to time articles appearing in other publications, of genealogical interest to Pennsylvanians, are noted. With the publication in 1965, of the first number of Volume X.XIV, the typography of the Magazine was updated for the first time. The same type face was continued, but headings for articles were modernized as a step toward giving a more pleasing appearance to the pages. Other changes to improve the format will no doubt be introduced from time to time. Thus, in the third phase of a long period of publication, certain policies of the various Committees on Publication are still being followed. Due notice is made of material accessions. Source material continues to be published, but on a broader base. Scholarly articles are featured without undue emphasis on "pedigree" in its restricted sense. While it remains the official organ of the Genealogical Society, its pages are open to all, providing the material submitted pertains basically to Pennsylvania. Hopefully this will include material relating to all sections of the Commonwealth, not just the southeastern section. And it is with equal hope that the continuing effort to bring the Magazine up to the standards exhibited by contemporary scholarly journals may serve as an example for other genealogical publications. As one facet of the Society's history and for the record, there follows a list, as near as can be determined, of the Committees on Publication, the volumes they edited, years of publication, and number of issues in each volume. L. Taylor Dickson, P. S. P. Conner, Gilbert Cope: Vol. I (1895-1896), Nos. 1-2 Francis Olcott Allen, Gilbert Cope, Thomas Allen Glenn: Vol. I (1897-1898), Nos. 3-4; Vol. II (1900), No. I Gilbert Cope, Acting Committee on Publication: Vol. II (1902-1903), Nos. 2-3 Gilbert Cope, J. Granville Leach, C. Howard Colket: Vol. III (1906 - 1908), Nos. I2-3; Vol. IV (1909-1911), Nos. 1-2.3 $0 The Pennsylvania Genealogical Magazine William M. Mervine, J. Granville Leach, C. Howard Colket• Vol. V (1912-1914), Nos. 1-2-3 J. Granville Leach, C. Howard Colket: Vol. VI (1915-1917), Nos. 1-2-3 Henry Reed Hatfield, Frank H. Stewart, Charles F. Jenkins: Vol. VII (1918-1920), Nos. 1-2-3 Henry Reed Hatfield, Frank H. Stewart, Miss Nina Lea: Vol. VIII (1921-1923), Nos. 1-2-3; Vol. IX (1924-1926), Nos. 1-2-3 Henry Reed Hatfield, Frank H. Stewart, Frank Worthington Melvin: Vol. X (19271929), Nos. 1-2-3; Vol. XI (1930-1932), Nos. 1-2-3; Vol. XII (1933-1931), Nos. I2-3 Henry Reed Hatfield, Lawrence J. Morris, Edwin Jacquett Sellers , Vol. XIII (19361939), Nos. 1-2, 2-3 [sic] Roy F. Nichols, Charles R. Barker, Robert M. Torrence, Ralph Domfeld Owen. Editor: M. Atherton Leach: Vol. XIV (1942-1944), Nos. 1-2-3 Roy F. Nichols, Charles R. Barker, Robert M. Torrence, Ralph Dornfeld Owen: Vol. XV (1945), No. 1 John Goodwin Herndon, Ralph Dornfeld Owen, Nicholas Biddle Wainwright, R. Norris Williams, 2d, Robert M. Torrence. Editor: John Goodwin Herndon: Vol. XV (1947), No. 2-3; Vol. XVI (1948), 1 issue; Vol. XVII (1949), 1 issue John Goodwin Herndon, Ralph Dornfeld Owen, Robert M. Torrence, Nicholas Biddle Wainwright, R. Norris Williams, 2d. Editor: John Goodwin Herndon; Associate Editor: Lewis 13. Cook: Vol. XVIII (1950-1951), Nos. 1-2 John Goodwin Herndon, Ralph Dornfeld Owen, Robert M. Torrence, Nicholas Biddle Wainwright, R. Norris Williams, 2d. Co-Editors: John Goodwin Herndon, Lewis D. Gook: Vol. XIX (1952), No. 1 John Goodwin Herndon, Lewis 13. Cook, Mrs. Helen Dryden, Mrs. Edward Z. Moore. Co-Editors: John Goodwin Herndon, Lewis D. Cook: Vol. XIX (1953), No. 2 John Goodwin Herndon, Lewis D. Cook, Nathaniel Claiborne Hale. Editor: Lewis D. Cook; Managing Editor. Nathaniel Claiborne Hale: Vol. XIX (1954), No. 3 Roy Franklin Nichols, Lewis Daniel Cook, Nathaniel Claiborne Hale, Samuel Booth Sturgis. Editor: Lewis D. Cook; Managing Editor, Nathaniel Claiborne Hale: Vol. XX (1955), No. 1 Roy Franklin Nichols, Lew. Daniel Cook, Francis James Dallett, Jr., Nathaniel Claiborne Hale, Samuel Booth Sturgis: Vol. XX (1956-1957), Nos. 2-3 Ralph Dornfeld Owen, Francis James Dallett, George Valentine Massey, II, Mrs. F. Spencer Roach, Samuel Booth Sturgis: Vol. XXI (1958-1960), Nos. 1-2-3 Ralph Dornfeld Owen, Mrs. F. Spencer Roach, Walter Lee Sheppard, Jr.: Vol. XXII (1961-1962), Nos. 1-2-3-4; Vol. XXIII (1963), No. 1 Ralph Dornfeld Owen, John Insley Coddington, Mrs. F. Spencer Roach, Walter Lee Sheppard, Jr., Conrad Wilson: Vol. XXIII (1963), No. 2 Ralph Dornfeld Owen, John Insley Coddington, Mrs. F. Spencer Roach, Walter Lee Sheppard, Jr.: Vol. XXIII (1964), Nos. 3-4 Ralph Domfeld Owen, John Lasley Coddington, Mrs. F. Spencer Roach, Walter Lee Sheppard, Jr. Editor: Hannah Benner Roach: Vol. XXIV (1965-1966). Nos. 1-2-3-4