BA General Studies

Bachelor of General Studies
Family History Emphasis

The following course of study is proposed for the BGS Family History emphasis to strengthen the academic rigor of the emphasis and to bring it more in line with the objectives of the Family History department.

Requirements for the BGS Family History Emphasis (30 credit hours):

Students are strongly encouraged to:

Complete Religion 261 (Introduction to LDS Family History) as part of the University religion requirement, in order to provide an initial foundation both in doctrine and basic research concepts.
Select a geographic area of interest (i.e., United States, New England, Latin, British, European, etc.) and select options from the following requirements that correspond to that geographic area. For example, if geographic area of interest were United States research, the following core courses would be a possible selection: Hist 400, 378, 401, 403, 421, 220, and 433. The geographic area of emphasis might also follow a migration pattern such as New England to the British Isles so that the core courses would be Hist. 400, 220, 401, 412, 421, 322 and 433. An interest in French Louisiana or Spanish Texas might result in a core course sequence like this: Hist. 400, 251 (or 252), 404, 411R (or 410R), 421, 424 (or 481R emphasizing Romance language handwriting and documents), and 433.

Core Courses:
Complete the following introductory course: (3 hours)
Hist 400 The Family and the Law in American History

Then complete one of the following social history courses: (3 hours)
Hist 319 The Family in Europe
Hist 378 American Family History

Then complete one of the following handwriting courses: (3 hours)
Germ 490R Sec. 3 German for Family Historians and Genealogists (hopefully change course number to Hist 422)
Hist 399R Sec. 1 Special Topics in History: Latin for Genealogists (hopefully change course number to Hist 420)
Hist 421 English Language Handwriting and Documents

Then complete two of the following area source courses: (6 hours)
Hist 401 U.S.-New England Family History Research
Hist 402 U.S.-Eastern States Family History Research
Hist 403 U.S.-Midwest Family History Research
Hist 404 U.S.-Southern States Family History Research
Hist 409R Sec. 1 Germanic Family History Research
Hist 411 Hispanic Family History
Hist 413 England/Wales Since 1700 Family History Research
Hist 414 Scottish Family History Research
Hist 415 Irish Family History Research

Then complete one of the following area history courses: (3 hours)
Geog 450 United States and Canada
History 220 The United States through 1877
Hist 252 Modern Latin America
Hist 322 England to 1689

As last courses in the emphasis, complete the following two courses: (6 hours)
Hist 433 Writing Family Histories
Hist 482 Professional Paths and Credentials in Family History

Other BYU campus classes (including evening and Salt Lake Center classes) dealing with social history, handwriting, area source, and area history for geographic areas not offered through Independent Study may be substituted for core courses above. Obtain prior approval before enrolling.

Elective Courses:
Complete 6 hours from the following elective courses (Including any courses not used for core above):
Engl 220 Writing Personal History
Hist 432 Oral History Interviewing and Processing
Hist 480 Seminar in Professional Family History Research (Offered only as an evening Provo Campus Course)
Hist 481R Directed Research in Family History
RelC 393R Sec. 6 Latter-day Saint Temples

BYU campus courses (including evening and Salt Lake Center classes) dealing with family history research may also be used to satisfy the emphasis elective requirements.

Alternative Recommendation:
Add RelC 261 as a core course and reduce emphasis electives from 6 hours to 4.

Notes to BGS:

Other campus courses that will fill the social history requirement are: Hist 320, 321, 357, 377, 378, 384, 386

Other campus courses that will fill the area history requirement are: Hist 251, 304, 305, 306, 323, 324, 325, 326, 329, 332, 353, 355, 356, 360, 363, 365, 370.

George Ryskamp is willing to work with any student in a Hist 481R (Directed Research) class to fill the handwriting requirement for Latin America.