Hereditary Society Community of the United States of America
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The Hereditary Society Community of the United States of America[1] ("HSC")[2] is a non-profit organization, founded in 2002, which conveys the public interface for over 300 lineage societies. HSC's primary mission is to facilitate and increase the community's aggregate focus on genealogical accuracy;[3][4] access to information and research tools;[5] accurate public listing of contact data;[6][7] non-partisan civic outreach;[8] historical education;[9] scholarship;[10] and fraternity and collegiality between organizations.[11][12] The organization meets every April, in Washington, D.C., for an annual meeting and gala event.
American lineage societies have existed since the colonial period and have provided avid genealogists and historians focused opportunities to study specific aspects of American history in juxtaposition with research into their own families. Prior to HSC, efforts to index the aggregate data related to American lineage societies included Bailey Banks and Biddle's (1917) American Orders & Societies and Their Decorations,[13] John Griffin Richardson Rountree's (1970–1983) publication, The Hereditary Register,[14] as well as a brief publication in the 1990s, The Hereditary Society Blue Book.
The HSC was founded by the heads of several main lineage society communities as a result of the lack of indexed publications and viable knowledge management platform. Their primary focus, at that time, was to increase synergy within the burgeoning community of disparate groups and provide a means to transition modern lineage societies and their members toward more equitable outcomes. The organization has maintained its commitment to inclusiveness and diversity and a consistent focus on making the study of genealogy relevant to the broadest array of the population. The organization was incorporated in October 2002 and held its first formal meeting in April 2003 at the Washington Club at Dupont Circle.
Governance
The organization operates under the governance of a Council (Board of Directors) and a Cabinet (Advisory Board). The Council consists of fifteen individuals. Twelve are life appointments, and three consist of the sitting executive leaders, during their respective terms, of the Society of the Cincinnati (President General); the National Society Daughters of the American Revolution (President General); and the National Gavel Society (President). The ten original incorporators included Barry Christopher Howard (President); John Griffin Richardson Rountree (Vice President); Brantley Carter Bolling Knowles (Secretary); John Hallberg Jones (Treasurer); Dixon A. Barr, Ph.D.; Timothy Field Beard, F.A.S.G; Charles Owen Johnson, Esq.; COL Stewart Boone McCarty, Jr.; Eleanor Warrene Smallwood Niebell; and Albert Clinton Walling II, Ph.D.