About the Author:

ELIZABETH SHOWN MILLS is a historical writer with decades of research experience in public and private records of many Western nations. Published widely by academic and popular presses, she edited a national-level scholarly journal for sixteen years, taught for thirteen years at a National Archives-based institute on archival records and, for thirty years, headed and taught a university-based program in advanced research methodology.

As an independent scholar, Mills regularly reviews manuscripts for university presses and consults with educational institutions as an outside curriculum reviewer and subject-area expert on dissertation committees. She is the subject of Chapter 3 in StateHouse Press's 2010 How Historians Work. Mills knows records, voraciously devours records, and shares her expertise in them with live and media audiences across three continents.