The Guild of One Name Studies has sent me a press release to publicise their special membership offer, and I think it’s worth having a look at what they have to offer.
The Guild of One-Name Studies is the world’s leading organisation for one-name studies. A one-name study is a project researching facts about a surname and all the people who have held it, as opposed to a particular pedigree (the ancestors of one person) or descendancy (the descendants of one person or couple). The Guild is a charitable organisation dedicated to promoting the public understanding of one-name studies and the preservation and accessibility of the resultant information. Founded in 1979, the Guild now has over 2,300 members spread across the world, studying over 7,800 individual surnames.
Check them out and see if there is a study for your surnames of interest. If there is you would do well to contact the member concerned. But if there isn’t, why not consider starting your own? If you have already collected a lot of records for your surname that aren’t necessarily related to you they may be of interest to others.
The Guild of One-Name Studies has a freephone/toll free helpdesk for members of the public in the UK, North American and Australia to call the Guild to find out:
- more about undertaking a One-Name Study
- the benefits of joining the Guild of One-Name Studies, and
- the assistance members of the Guild can provide to anyone researching their family history on any of the 7,800 plus names currently being researched
In Australia the toll-free number in Australia is 1800 305 184
What’s more, if you join during the week of Who Do You Think You Are? Live in London you will receive special benefits:
The Guild of One-Name Studies is to offer a special extended membership to new joiners at the forthcoming Who Do You Think You Are? Live show being held in the UK at the Olympia, London on Friday 25th to Sunday 27th February 2011.
Normally membership of the Guild costs £15.00 and covers a period of up to a year with renewal on 1st November 2011. This special extended membership will cost £20.00 but will include a full year’s extra membership, renewal not being due until 1st November 2012. The aim of the scheme is to attract more new members and to encourage these members to stay with the Guild for longer and to appreciate and utilise the various benefits available to members.
For people who cannot attend the Who Do You Think You Are? Live show, the special offer of an extended membership will be made available to them for a week from when the show opens on Friday 25th February 2011 on the Guild website at:
www.one-name.org/specialoffer.html
This extended membership option has been introduced following the completion of an internal membership retention survey which identified why existing members joined the Guild, their knowledge and use of Guild services and facilities and the reasons why members failed to renew their membership.
If this offer of an extended membership proves successful it could be introduced on a wider basis.
Details of all the Guild facilities can be found at:
