The Written Record

Eight steps. Two yeses are yours.

The Written Record is the house's own work on one life: researched, written plainly, checked against its sources, and read by a person before it comes to you. It begins with sittings with Zuri, and the house goes no further until you approve the facts.

Sittings with Zuri

• A sitting is up to a quarter hour, and five Seals.
• Your first sitting is free. A sitting with fewer than three minutes spoken is not charged.
• The research and the writing begin once four paid sittings are taken, twenty Seals in all, after the free first sitting. The seal is included.
• Sittings are opening steward by steward; a person at the house writes when yours is ready.

The eight steps

1. You tell what you know. Through the house's own private door, by typing or by speaking aloud. A spoken answer is turned into text on the house's own machine, and you read it back before it is kept. "I don't know" is a good answer: it tells the research where to look.
2. You add what you hold. Photographs, papers, recordings and films, through the same door. A phone photograph of a paper is enough. You can remove anything before the house takes it in.
3. The house searches the public record. Every finding is sourced and marked proven or not.
4. The house sends a Gathering Guide. Where the person's papers are held, and how to ask for them.
5. You approve the fact sheet.Your yes
   Nothing reaches the story before that yes.
6. The house writes the Record. Every sentence is checked against the facts.
7. You read it and say yes.Your yes
   You decide what stays with the family.
8. It is kept with a public proof. A fingerprint of every part, published where anyone can check it has not changed.

At each step the house tells you where things stand. A person at the house reads the whole Record before it comes to you for your yes. What the house could not find is said plainly, never filled in.

Why the research can be trusted

The house follows the Genealogical Proof Standard, the standard professional genealogists are held to: a thorough search, a full citation for every source, careful weighing of the evidence, conflicts resolved openly, and a conclusion you can follow. Searches that found nothing are recorded too.

AI helps the house search records and prepare drafts. A person reads every word before it reaches you. Nothing you give through the house's door is used to train AI.