Join New England Historic Genealogical Society as we bestow the Coddington Award of Merit upon Elizabeth Shown Mills, CG, CGL, FASG, FNGS for her many valuable accomplishments and contributions to genealogy. The Coddington Award of Merit was established by the New England Historic Genealogical Society in 1987 and is named in honor of its distinguished first recipient, John Insley Coddington (1902–1991), the highly respected “Dean of American Genealogists.” The Coddington Award of Merit recognizes the highest standard of excellence in American genealogical scholarship and lifetime achievement in the field. Ms. Mills will discuss her work and changes in the field of genealogy.

Elizabeth Shown Mills has been a leading figure in American genealogy for more than forty years. She has published extensively in genealogical and historical journals, mostly about the South, especially Anglo-Celtic frontiersmen, French and Spanish Creoles, Native Americans, and the enslaved. She is a popular lecturer at genealogical conferences on these areas as well as on methodology. Her codification of genealogical methodology is the basis of the Genealogical Proof Standard, now recognized as the standard in in the field of genealogy. Elizabeth Shown Mills is a Fellow of the American Society of Genealogists (and past president), a Fellow of the National Genealogical Society (and editor of "National Genealogical Society Quarterly" for sixteen years), and a Certified Genealogist (and past president of the Board for Certification of Genealogists).

Past recipients of the Coddington Award of Merit include Charles Morton Hansen (1995), David Louis Greene (2001), John Frederick Dorman (2006), and Gale Ion Harris (2010).