Searching for a legitimate degree program
Jacquie Ziegler
many years. I am involved in the Society for
Creative Anachronism (SCA), and feel that the
heraldry as it is practiced there is no longer enough
for me.
I was searching for something else entirely on Francois
Velde's site when I found the following link:
http://www.geocities.com/Paris/Cathedral/4800/ASGHDS/index.html
For the
SCHOOL OF GENEALOGY, HERALDRY AND DOCUMENTARY SCIENCES
(SCUOLA DI GENEALOGIA, ARALDICA E SCIENZE DOCUMENTARIE)
The Italian school, was formed December 3rd 1995 as a part of the Italian
Heraldic and Genealogical Institute and the Asociación de Hidalgos and is
affiliated with the Escuela de Genealogía, Heráldica y Nobiliaria of the
Instituto Salazar y Castro of Madrid. The Italian school is also affiliated
with The Institute of Heraldic and Genealogical Studies of
Canterbury.(I.H.G.S.) This parent school is situated in Bologna, Italy. As
with its parent facility in Italy, the American School's aim is to provide
scientific and scholarly instructions regarding the main elements of
genealogy and family history, heraldry and documentary sciences; and to
offer its students a center of international learning.
I have been unable to verify that this school, which is apparently through
the
University of Mississippi both for on-site and through distance learning, is
legitimate.
If anyone can tell me what more I could do to find out about this,
or any other program, I would be most grateful.
My mother, when I sent her the information, said it looked to her
like a 'diploma mill' (and if she doesn't like it, she won't help me pay for
it!), but I fail to see where that might be a bad thing, really. If I can
learn more about heraldry in specific and genealogy and other associated
areas, then I would be more than willing to take the plunge and go back
to school!
Jacquie Ziegler
(respond privately to sha...@2a.net if you wish)
Dr. C. E. Lindgren
> I was searching for something else entirely on Francois
> Velde's site when I found the following link:
>
> http://www.geocities.com/Paris/Cathedral/4800/ASGHDS/index.html
>
> For the SCHOOL OF GENEALOGY, HERALDRY AND DOCUMENTARY SCIENCES
>
> (SCUOLA DI GENEALOGIA, ARALDICA E SCIENZE DOCUMENTARIE)
Due to lack of students the School has closed in the United States.
The School, ran by Dr. Pier Felice degli Uberti, still operates in
Italy. All courses are now only in Italian.
Carl Lindgren
Pier Felice degli Uberti
> The American branch never had courses not finding persons interested. Because of this reason it never operated and it was closed.
It never had any connection with the University of Mississippi.
On the contrary the Scuola di Genealogia, Araldica e Scienze
Documentarie http://www.geocities.com/genealogyschool/ is considered a
most valid school about documentary sciences and is part of the
International Federation of Schools of Family History (which collects
the 4 most important Schools of these matters in the world: Escuela de
Genealogía Heráldica y Nobiliaria of Instituto Salazar y Castro of
Madrid, the Institute for Heraldic and Genealogical Study of
Canterbury; the Center for Genealogy and Family History of Brigham
Young University of Provo – Utah and Scuola di Genealogia, Araldica e
Scienze Documentarie of Bologna – Italy) .
The School is completely no profit and all the professors teach
completely free (gratis). The School – 4 years - has the lowest costs
among the Schools of the Federation (Euro 155,00 for year including
all the texts and materials). Besides in Piacenza – Italy the School
has courses for professors of high School which are completely free
(gratis) and are recognized by the Provveditorato agli Studi (local
education office) of the Ministero della Pubblica Istruzione of the
Italian Republic.
The School being connected to the Istituto Araldico Genealogico
Italiano – no profit association – offers completely free (gratis)
courses open to the public in various towns; the last will be on 5-6
October 2002 in Bologna see: http://www.iagi.info/corsogenealogia.htm
Now I should like to know how many are the organizations in this field
which operate in this manner in the world...
> If anyone can tell me what more I could do to find out about this,
> or any other program, I would be most grateful.
>
Because you are English speaking (we have in this moment only courses
in Italian language, but in a short time in Spanish too) I recommend
you 2 Schools of the Federation which have courses in English:
The Institute of Heraldic and Genealogical Studies
See: http://www.ihgs.ac.uk/
Center for Genealogy and Family History of Brigham Young University of
Provo – Utah
See: http://ce.byu.edu/cw/cwgeneal/
> My mother, when I sent her the information, said it looked to her
> like a 'diploma mill' (and if she doesn't like it, she won't help me pay for
> it!), but I fail to see where that might be a bad thing, really.
The School does not grant any Laurea (doctorate), but only Certificate
of attendance as the other Schools of the Federation make (excluding
BYU).
I suggest your mother to check the reality (particularly when it is
talked about indisputable and well known organizations, as in this
case) before using terms which can be considered at least not proper.
If I can
> learn more about heraldry in specific and genealogy and other associated
> areas, then I would be more than willing to take the plunge and go back
> to school!
I do not understand why you – before writing on this newsgroup – did
not look on google to see what these organizations really are...
Pier Felice degli Uberti
D. L. Phoenix
what I loved, and heraldry was it. I'm wrapping up my undergraduate
degree in history at Arizona State University this year. The Library of
Congress codes aptly describe heraldry and genealogy as parallel to
history. I've heard art history suggested as another good major for
armorists, and I suppose this might work if you found the right department.
I confessed once to a herald, with a little shame in my voice, that I
was self taught. He smiled and laughed and said "We all are!" This is
how I've approached the subject. I don't really know anything about the
heraldry and genealogy schools. BYU has the only research library I've
found in the American West with a subscription to the Coat of Arms, and
if you want to study genealogy the 'Y' might be a place to do it. Just
remember that for Latter-Day Saints genealogy is a religious issue. It's
a very odd place, but I know a few non-Mormons who are quite fond of it.
If any school will be forgiving of an interest in heraldry, BYU should.
I do know that few American university professors know anything about
heraldry. The only one at ASU who knows anything is a Tudor specialist
who had to research the heralds becuase of their diplomatic role in the
marriage of Anne of Cleves. I had just come back from my summer working
at the College of Arms, and was looking for a thesis adviser. I told her
I had worked at the College of Arms and she launched into a half-baked,
unsolicited explanation of the history of the heralds and even had the
presence of mind to tell me that heraldry is even still practiced in
England. (Madam, didn't I *just* tell you I had worked there?) Great
thing about professors, they always assume they know more about
everything than their undergraduates. I am certain that I am ASU's
leading authority on heraldry, and I'm just as certain that I would have
been when I was sixteen. If anyone out there can name a university
faculty member with a real knowledge of heraldry, anywhere in the
English-speaking world, I'd be grateful
Our comrade Seb Nelson studied heraldry on the graduate level for a year
at Oxford, and the illustrious Adrian Ailes is at Oxford too. Another
lady I have not met is studying East-Anglian heraldry at Cambridge. The
trick, it seems, is finding an adviser who knows something about
heraldry, or knows about the cultural or social history of the period
you want to work on. I'm hunting for grad schools right now, and while
my degree will be in history, my studies will be all heraldry.
Thus, we have self-teaching left. The trick there is determining and
obtaining good books, and that's no mean trick in heraldry. I'm sure
you've already read the usual introductory textbooks. If you haven't
read the Oxford Guide to Heraldry, I recommend reading it twice. I had
to unlearn, with great effort, all the bad blazoning habits I had picked
up from Fox-Davies.
In my studies, the Heraldry Society has been of great help.
<http://www.theheraldrysociety.com> The Coat of Arms is the primary
scholarly journal of English heraldry. It has the feel and the tone of
the journals of the 20's, and I appreciate that. The amateurs have been
cast out of the dialogue in every other field. (It's proabably a good
thing that acadaemia hasn't yet discovered heraldry, or we'd all be out
in the cold too.) Of even more value to the self-taught are the
Society's exams. <http://www.theheraldrysociety.com/services/exam.htm>
Don't let them fool you. The elementary exam is 6 hours long, and it
took me two years to pass. Their heraldry diploma will be harder to earn
than my bachelor's degree, if not as time consuming or expensive. If
England's not your interest, then most countries have an equivalent
organization, of not an equivalent exam.
So, you've heard Dan's thoughts on heraldry in acadaemia. We're all
mostly self taught, and we have the honor of the occasionally testy,
often instructive, always entertaining rec.heraldry. I certainly would
be far less off without the advice and tutelage of the fine people here.
In the next few days, I'll thank them by bugging them about the use of
vair in heraldry. :-)
Best of luck to you, Jacquie.
Dan
Cook SLC
D. L. Phoenix
gone berzerk? I don't think so... :-)
Dan
David B. Appleton
> Mr. Phoenix>[BYU is] a very odd place..
>
> Oh, why?
>
> Glen Cook
For one, in some ways the State of Utah is a very odd place. We used
to say, when I lived up in Logan, that there were three kinds of
people in Utah: Mormons; anti-Mormons; and people who had just moved
in. ;-^)
David