Contact

Genealogy Authority serves researchers, professional genealogists, archivists, institutional partners, and members of the public seeking reference-grade information on family history methodology and records access across the United States. This page describes the available channels for directing inquiries to the appropriate editorial or operational function, identifies the geographic scope of the site's reference coverage, and outlines what information to include when submitting a message to ensure an efficient response.

Additional contact options

Beyond direct messaging, the site supports structured engagement through its published reference network. Researchers working through specific documentation challenges — such as vital records, immigration and naturalization records, or DNA testing for genealogy — will find that many technical inquiries are addressed within the substantive reference pages themselves before a direct contact is necessary.

Professionals seeking peer-level reference on methodology, including topics such as the genealogical proof standard, source citation in genealogy, and resolving conflicting genealogical evidence, are encouraged to consult those reference sections first.

Inquiry categories routed through additional options include:

1. Editorial corrections — factual disputes or documentation updates affecting published reference content
2. Partnership or institutional collaboration — requests from archives, genealogical societies, or professional organizations for coordination or cross-reference
3. Research referrals — inquiries that fall outside the scope of free reference content and require routing to a professional genealogist or a recognized genealogical society
4. Accessibility requests — requests related to format accessibility for any published content on the domain
5. Licensing and reproduction — questions about republishing or citing reference material from the site

Each of these categories benefits from a distinct contact pathway. Generic or undifferentiated messages receive lower processing priority than categorized submissions.

How to reach this resource

The primary contact method for Genealogy Authority is the site's hosted web form, which routes submissions into a categorized queue maintained by the editorial operations team. The form accepts structured text submissions up to 2,000 characters and supports file attachments up to 10 MB in standard document formats (PDF, JPEG, PNG, DOCX).

general timeframes by inquiry type:

The site does not provide telephone consultation or real-time chat support. This distinction is deliberate: genealogical reference inquiries involving document interpretation, conflicting evidence analysis, or unknown parentage research require written exchanges to maintain an accurate record of the inquiry and response.

Institutional correspondents — including state archives, university libraries, and hereditary societies — may use a dedicated institutional inquiry pathway flagged in the contact page's category field. This channel carries a 10-business-day maximum response commitment.

Service area covered

Genealogy Authority operates as a nationally scoped reference resource covering the 50 U.S. states, the District of Columbia, and U.S. territories insofar as federal genealogical record systems — including the National Archives and Records Administration and the Social Security Death Index — extend to those jurisdictions.

The site's reference coverage addresses both national-level systems and state-level variation. For example, access to birth, death, and marriage records differs across state vital records offices, with 32 states maintaining centralized statewide vital records repositories and the remainder operating county-level systems. Reference pages for US state archives and genealogy resources and US census records for family research reflect this jurisdictional variation explicitly.

Coverage does not extend to legal advice, regulatory compliance guidance, or the adjudication of heirship claims. For matters intersecting family history with legal standing — such as adoption and biological family research or estate-related genealogical work connected to probate and estate records — the appropriate referral is to licensed legal counsel, not to this reference site.

International research topics — including researching immigrant ancestors and passenger lists and ship manifests — are covered from the U.S. researcher's perspective, meaning the records addressed are those held in American repositories or accessible through American institutional channels.

What to include in your message

A complete, well-structured submission reduces the time required to assess and route an inquiry. The following elements should be present in every submission directed to editorial or operational functions.

Required elements for all submissions:

1. Inquiry category — select or state the category from the list in the Additional Contact Options section above
2. Specific reference page (if applicable) — provide the page title or URL where a discrepancy, correction, or question originates
3. Nature of the issue — a plain-language description of the factual question, error identified, or collaboration proposal, in no more than 300 words
4. Supporting documentation — attach or link to any primary source material (e.g., a digitized census page, a vital record image, or a published citation) that substantiates an editorial correction claim

Contrast: general versus actionable submissions

A general message stating "I think there is an error on your DNA page" requires at least 2 additional follow-up exchanges before the editorial process can assess the claim. A specific message identifying the page autosomal DNA vs Y-DNA vs mitochondrial DNA, citing the specific paragraph in question, and attaching a named source such as a research-based journal article or an ISOGG (International Society of Genetic Genealogy) reference can be assessed and resolved in a single review cycle.

For research referral requests, include the surnames, approximate date ranges, and geographic localities under investigation. Submissions referencing soundex and name variation in records or geographic name changes and genealogy should note the specific name forms and jurisdictions involved, as these details determine which professional or institutional referral is appropriate.