Dr. Tera Pruitt is the owner of Scientific Genealogy, offering high-quality family history research services.

As an American living in England, she is particularly well-situated to help Americans wishing to "jump the pond" and discover more about their ancestry from the British Isles.

Tera received her Ph.D. from the University of Cambridge in 2011 for research in scientific ethnography and archaeology. She holds a Postgraduate Certificate in Genealogy, Palaeography, and Heraldic Studies from the University of Strathclyde in Scotland, focusing on British Records and genetic genealogy (DNA). She also holds a Certificate in American Genealogical Studies from the National Genealogical Society (US), focusing on American traditional document research. She has a M.Phil. in Heritage Management and Museums from Cambridge, with experience in artifact identification and preservation, archival digitization, and online historical exhibition.

Her particular genealogical focus is in British and American history and genetic genealogy (DNA). For the UK, her research focus is in Cambridgeshire, Leicestershire, and Scotland, but she also has considerable experience researching records elsewhere in the British Isles, including more broadly in England and in Ireland. In the United States, her research interests are particularly in the tidewater migrations around Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina, as well as early migration patterns in Georgia, Mississippi, Alabama, and Texas, but she also has broader experience researching archives in New England, the American Midwest, and California.

As part of her professional work, she also has experience with successful lineage applications to organizations like the Daughters of the American Revolution, the Texas First Families Certificate, and the Jamestowne Society.

Tera has previously worked with historical archives and collections at the University of Cambridge Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, the Victoria & Albert Museum in London, the Ely Museum in England, and the Houston Museum of Natural Science in the United States. As a postdoctoral project manager at UCLA in California, she worked with the Zuni Native American tribe on a major National Science Foundation collaborative catalog museum project. Her past projects include archival work with paper collections, digitization of collections, photography and handling of photographic collections, analyzing artifacts and creating object histories, conducting oral history interviews, excavating at major archaeological sites, and redesigning museum galleries.

Tera has lectured about heritage and museums at the University of Cambridge, as well as presented at conferences including the European Association of Archaeologists and Society of American Anthropology, and she was a main speaker for the Narrative and Storytelling in Archaeology conference.
 

Services include, but are not limited to:

- Family history: rigorously researched genealogy and beautifully presented narrative family history reports

- Genetic genealogy and DNA research, including probate research, consultations and tutoring about DNA test results and resources for self-study

- Lineage applications

- Artifact histories and heirloom identification

- House histories

- Digitization and digital preservation of family photographs, papers, and archives

- Archival storage solutions and conservation advice for your physical family history collection

Geographic Specialities
- United Kingdom and the British Isles
- United States

Repositories
Cambridge University Library 
National Archives (UK)
London Metropolitan Archives
British Library

Certificates
- P.G.Cert. in Genealogy, Palaeography, and Heraldic Studies, University of Strathclyde (UK)
- Certigicate in American Genealogical Studies from the National Genealogical Society (USA)

Affiliations
- National Genealogical Society
- Cambridgeshire & Huntingdonshire Family History Society
- Daughters of the American Revolution
- Texas First Families & Texas State Genealogical Society
- Jamestowne Society

Degrees
- Ph.D., University of Cambridge (Archaeology and Heritage Management)
- M.Phil, University of Cambridge (Archaeology and Heritage Management)
- B.A., Rice University (Anthropology and English)
- P.G.Cert., University of Strathclyde (Genealogy, Palaeography, and Heraldic Studies)