Kip Sperry is Professor Emeritus of Family History, Department of Church History & Doctrine, Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah, where he taught family history and American and LDS genealogical research methods and sources for over twenty-five years. He has lectured at national, regional, state, and local family history conferences and seminars, including RootsTech and BYU annual conferences.
Kip was born in Chardon, Geauga County, Ohio, and holds a graduate degree in Library and Information Science (M.L.S.) and two undergraduate degrees in American genealogy from Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah. He was awarded the 2014 Harvey B. and Susan Easton Black Outstanding Publication Award from BYU and was presented the Richard Lloyd Anderson Research Award from BYU in 2003. He formerly worked at the Family History Library in Salt Lake City and was former Associate Director, BYU Center for Family History and Genealogy. His family history research and writing interests include Ohio and other Midwestern states, Western Reserve in Northeastern Ohio, New England states, American and English paleography, Isle of Man, and Great Britain. He was national conference chair for four National Genealogical Society Annual Conferences in the States and former NGS council member for ten years.
His awards include Fellow, American Society of Genealogists; Fellow, National Genealogical Society; Fellow, Utah Genealogical Association; National Genealogical Society President’s Citation; National Genealogical Society Distinguished Service Award; National Genealogical Society Award of Merit; elected a life member of the National Genealogical Society; Utah Genealogical Association Annual Award; Utah Genealogical Association Distinguished Service Award; and received a Certificate of Appreciation from the American Society of Genealogists in 2013. He is an Accredited Genealogist (Midwestern states) with the International Commission for the Accreditation of Professional Genealogists. He was former editor of the Genealogical Journal (Utah Genealogical Association) and BYU Family Historian. He was a former contributing editor of The American Genealogist and National Genealogical Society Quarterly.
Kip is author of the following family history books (a selected list):
Reading Early American Handwriting
Genealogical Research in Ohio, 3rd ed. (GPC, 2023).
Nauvoo & Hancock County, Illinois: A Guide to Family History and Historical Sources
Kirtland, Ohio: A Guide to Family History and Historical Sources
A Guide to Mormon Family History Sources
Abbreviations & Acronyms: A Guide for Family Historians, 2nd ed.
He is author of family history articles published in The American Genealogist, The Genealogist (American Society of Genealogists), National Genealogical Society Quarterly, Genealogical Journal (Utah Genealogical Association), The New England Historical and Genealogical Register, Ohio Genealogical Society Quarterly and The Report (Ohio Genealogical Society), and family history articles in other journals, books, and chapters. Recent family history articles include the following (a selected list):
“Chauncey Case and Cleopatra Hayes of Connecticut and Hudson, Summit County, Ohio.” Ohio Genealogical Society Quarterly, 60:1 (2020): 3-24.
“Enoch Morse: Civil War Union Soldier Born in Ohio and Died in the Salisbury Prison in Rowan County, North Carolina.” Ohio Genealogical Society Quarterly, 59:4 (2019): 387-395.
“William Weissenbach and Anna Knost of Germany, Ohio, and Missouri.” Ohio Genealogical Society Quarterly, 58:4 (2018): 351–375.
“Migration from the Isle of Man to the Western Reserve in Ohio.” Ohio Genealogical Society Quarterly, 58:3 (2018): 235-249.
Recent family history chapters include the following (a selected list):
“Family History and Genealogy,” in The Mormons: An Illustrated History of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, ed. Roy A. Prete (London/New York: Merrell Publishers, 2013), pp. 120–125.
“Oral Genealogies in the Pacific Islands,” in Regional Studies in Latter-day Saint Church History: The Pacific Isles, ed. Reid L. Neilson, Steven C. Harper, Craig K. Manscill, and Mary Jane Woodger (Provo: Brigham Young University, 2008), pp. 181–197.
“Religion and Ethnicity in the Western Reserve,” in Regional Studies in Latter-day Saint Church History: Ohio and Upper Canada, ed. Guy L. Dorius, Craig K. Manscill, and Craig James Ostler (Provo: Brigham Young University, 2006), pp. 87–109.