BIRMINGHAM, Ala.--More than 200 genealogists from 32 states will attend Samford University's annual Institute of Genealogy and Historical Research June 12-17. A 31-member faculty will lead an in-depth study of how to research family ancestry and participants will have the use of the Samford library's extensive genealogy collection.

The week-long program is comprised of 10 courses delving into genealogy techniques, technology, evidence analysis, research in the South, government documents, military records, land records, Irish genealogy and other areas.

Elizabeth Shown Mills, longtime editor of the National Genealogical Society Quarterly and immediate past president of the American Society of Genealogists, will lead a course in advanced methodology and evidence analysis.

A member of the Institute faculty since 1979, Mills has appeared on radio and television talk shows discussing genealogy on three continents. An extensive lecturer and writer of genealogical materials, she was featured on the British Broadcasting Corporation 20th anniversary special on the novel, Roots. 

Other faculty members who have written widely on genealogy include Lloyd Bockstruck, supervisor of genealogy for the Dallas (Texas) Public Library; Claire Bettag, an expert on French, Acadian and Spanish families of Louisiana; Thomas Jones, editor of the National Genealogical Society Quarterly and professor at Gallaudet University in Washington, D.C.; and John Colletta, author of They Came in Ships: A Guide to Finding Your Immigrant Ancestor's Arrival Record and Finding Italian Roots: The Complete Guide for Americans. 

Jean Thomason, director of Samford's University Library, serves as director of the IGHR. Samford's genealogy institute has been held annually for more than 40 years.