Is Name Research an Art or a Service?

[I. Marc Carlson]

<Emher ni Maille <Jennifer Kubenka <jkubenka at sun.cis.smu.edu>>>
>...but the actual researching, the digging through massive piles of
>information, of dictionaries, of annals and church registers, and so on, isn't
>ever even brought up for a Sable Thistle in Research? 
>Is this not research?  Is it because the results are not as tangible, 
>say, as my needlework?

Of course, it's research (assuming that the person actually *bothered* to
research their name in the first place).  There *does* seem to be a tendancy
to overlook book burrowing unless it results in something fancy, flashy and
noticable.  While this is unfortunate (since, as I recall vaguely hearing once
that the SCA was purported to be an "educational organization"), it is
entirely understandable due to the all too fallable human nature of the
membership, i.e., we overlook that which does not immeadiately grab our
attention.

"Mihi Satis Apparet Propter     Diarmuit Ui Dhuinn
  Se Ipsum Appetenda Sapientia"	University of Northkeep
 -- St. Dunstan			Northkeepshire, Ansteorra
				(I. Marc Carlson/IMC at vax2.utulsa.edu)