It is well known that in most cases, a reference is necessary for structural health diagnosis, and it is very difficult to obtain such a reference for a given structure. In this paper, a clan member signal method (CMSM) is proposed for use in structures consisting of groups (or clans) that have the same geometry, i.e., the same cross section and length, and identical boundary conditions. It is expected that signals measured on any undamaged member in a clan after an event could be used as a reference for any other members in the clan. To verify the applicability of the proposed method, a steel truss model is tested and the results show that the CMSM is very effective in detecting local damage in structures composed of identical slender members.