Heraldry has been used as a visual token of personal and family identity from the Middle Ages to the present. It is traditionally a natural sister discipline of genealogy. The Internet has made heraldry more accessible than ever before, but most genealogists think less about heraldry than we used to before the explosion of genealogy as a hobby since the 1970s. This introduction lays out the first questions to ask and the first resources to know to rediscover heraldry from a genealogical perspective, including examples from Dr. Taylor's own Essex County roots.

Nathaniel Taylor, FASG, is the Editor and Publisher of The American Genealogist. He was drawn into genealogy in the 1980s, researching his Essex County ancestry while studying medieval history as a graduate student. He subsequently taught medieval and modern history at the university level for fifteen years. His genealogical research ranging from medieval Europe to colonial New England and Virginia has been published in numerous historical and genealogical journals, and he has spoken on a variety of skill-building and special topics, including heraldry, at conferences and for groups throughout the United States and internationally. He has been a volunteer on the Committee on Heraldry of the New England Historic Genealogical Society since 2006 and has been its Registrar since 2019, most recently shepherding its Roll of Arms: Eleventh Part into publication in 2022.