The Researcher's Guide to American Genealogy, 2nd Edition [Hardcover]

Val D. Greenwood (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 1990

In every field of study there is one book that rises above the rest in stature and authority and becomes the standard work in the field. In genealogy that book is Val Greenwood's Researcher's Guide to American Genealogy. Arguably the best book ever written on American genealogy, it is the text of choice in colleges and universities or wherever courses in American genealogy are taught. Of the dozens of textbooks, manuals, and how-to books that have appeared over the past twenty-five years, it is the one book that is consistently praised for setting a standard of excellence. The Researcher's Guide has become a classic. While it instructs the researcher in the timeless principles of genealogical research, it also identifies the various classes of records employed in that research, groups them in convenient tables and charts, gives their location, explains their uses, and evaluates each of them in the context of the research process. Designed to answer practically all the researcher's needs, it is both a textbook and an all-purpose reference book. And it is this singular combination that makes The Researcher's Guide the book of choice in any genealogical investigation. It is also the reason why if you can afford to buy only one book on American genealogy in a lifetime, this has to be it. This new 3rd edition incorporates the latest thinking on genealogy and computers, specifically the relationship between computer technology (the Internet and CD-ROM) and the timeless principles of good genealogical research. It also includes a new chapter on the property rights of women, a revised chapter on the evaluation of genealogical evidence, and updated information on the 1920 census. Little else has changed, or needs to be changed, because the basics of genealogy remain timeless and immutable. This 3rd edition of The Researcher's Guide, then, is a clear, comprehensive, and up-to-date account of the methods and aims of American genealogy--an essential text for the present generation of researchers--and no sound genealogical project is complete without it.

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

This classic handbook has been completely updated to include all major developments since the original edition ( LJ 6/15/74). Three new chapters cover genealogical evidence, personal computers, and family historians. The bibliographies have been updated as well. Greenwood's pioneering contribution offers a detailed examination of primary records: vital, census, probate, land, court (adoption), church, military, cemetery, and wills. Librarians will appreciate chapters on other types of research, especially library research. Ronald A. Bremer's Compendium of Historical Sources: The How and Where of American Genealogy (Progenitor Soc., 1986. 3d ed.) and Arlene Eakle's The Source: A Guidebook of American Genealogy (Ancestry Pub., 1984) are similar all-in-one genealogy handbooks. With this edition, Greenwood has reaffirmed his book's position as the outstanding text in American genealogy, and it remains the benchmark against which others will be judged. This modestly priced core collection reference tool should be in every genealogical library and in other libraries where there is an interest in genealogy.
-Judith P. Reid, Local History & Genealogy Reference Specialist, Library of Congress
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

Greenwood's book is easy to read and covers a broad enough spectrum of resources that readers are equipped to get started with a minimum investment of study time. For those who want to learn how to build pedigrees and reconstruct family groups, tying them from one generation to the next, this book is an excellent guide...This book also has value to other researchers. Historians, demographers, and sociologists studying people in the past will find that this book will provide important guidance in assessing which records will provide the facts needed. Government document librarians will appreciate having this book to refer to in answering questions about censuses and other sources created by national and state government. It is still one of the best guidebooks on genealogical research available. It is an important title to include in collections of libraries with patrons interested in genealogical research. --Government Publications Review

Greenwood's guide has long been regarded as the best of its kind, a text and reference work for anyone who is doing American genealogical research beyond the beginner's level...Purchase of Greenwood's guide is recommended to any serious genealogist, and every genealogical library should have this latest edition on its shelves. --The New York Genealogical and Biogaphical Record

This work is still the single best reference and text for the serious beginning genealogist. --American Reference Books Annual, 1991

This work is still the single best reference and text for the serious beginning genealogist. --American Reference Books Annual, 1991

Greenwood's book is easy to read and covers a broad enough spectrum of resources that readers are equipped to get started with a minimum investment of study time. For those who want to learn how to build pedigrees and reconstruct family groups, tying them from one generation to the next, this book is an excellent guide...This book also has value to other researchers. Historians, demographers, and sociologists studying people in the past will find that this book will provide important guidance in assessing which records will provide the facts needed. Government document librarians will appreciate having this book to refer to in answering questions about censuses and other sources created by national and state government. It is still one of the best guidebooks on genealogical research available. It is an important title to include in collections of libraries with patrons interested in genealogical research. --Government Publications Review

This work is still the single best reference and text for the serious beginning genealogist. --American Reference Books Annual, 1991

Greenwood's book is easy to read and covers a broad enough spectrum of resources that readers are equipped to get started with a minimum investment of study time. For those who want to learn how to build pedigrees and reconstruct family groups, tying them from one generation to the next, this book is an excellent guide...This book also has value to other researchers. Historians, demographers, and sociologists studying people in the past will find that this book will provide important guidance in assessing which records will provide the facts needed. Government document librarians will appreciate having this book to refer to in answering questions about censuses and other sources created by national and state government. It is still one of the best guidebooks on genealogical research available. It is an important title to include in collections of libraries with patrons interested in genealogical research. --Government Publications Review --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 609 pages
• Publisher: Genealogical Pub Co; 2nd edition (February 1990)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 080631267X
• ISBN-13: 978-0806312675
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.2 x 1.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #577,249 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

40 of 40 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Absolutely essential for all American genealogists, July 22, 2002

By 

Michael K. Smith (South Louisiana) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: The Researcher's Guide to American Genealogy, Third Edition (Paperback)

Since its first edition in 1972, and especially with the completely revised and greatly expanded 2nd edition in 1990, this comprehensive work has become the standard guide and textbook in the pursuit of U.S. genealogical research. Beginning with the background to research -- what "research" actually means, specialized terminology, basic principles, library fundamentals, and all the rest -- Greenwood teaches you, with great clarity and many examples, how to identify what information you need, how to go about locating it, and how to organize it once you've found it. The second, much larger part of the book, leads the reader through the use, analysis, and interpretation of all the major sorts of documents and records out there: Compiled sources (including a discussion of the nature of compilations), vital records, census returns, wills and probate records (and how to become comfortable with legal terminology), local and federal land records, civil and criminal court records, church records, records relating to immigration, military records, and cemetery and burial records. He discusses the nature of abstracting, clears up common misconceptions about court records, points out the limitations of the census, and presents a largely rewritten discussion of the standards of evidence. When the 2nd edition came out a decade ago, the author thought his book would probably never need another major revision, just minor updates. But that was before the personal computer and Internet revolutions forced him to rethink his position, and this edition includes an entirely new and rather lengthy chapter on the appropriate use of the computer in genealogical research and also on its built-in limitations. He also took the opportunity to add a chapter on the legal issues relating to women's property rights, and (of course) made all those minor corrections and updates he had expected. Bluntly, if you can afford only one how-to book for your home genealogy shelf, get this one.

28 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Essential reading for the novice genealogist., March 4, 2000

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Researcher's Guide to American Genealogy, Third Edition (Paperback)

Now in a fully updated and expanded third edition, Val Greenwood's The Researcher's Guide To American Genealogy continues to be the definitive introduction and guide to conducting genealogical research in the United States. It is both a textbook and an all-purpose reference book that is the core title for any personal, professional, and community library genealogical reference collection. Clear, comprehensive, up-to-date, "reader friendly", The Researcher's Guide To American Genealogy provides an essential, highly recommended account of the methods and aims of American genealogy today and will prove ideal for the novice genealogist in conducting a sound genealogical project.

17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Excellent Resource For Any Experience Level Genealogist, September 21, 1997

By 

LaMont Bankson ([e-mail]) (Phoenix, AZ) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Researcher's Guide to American Genealogy, 2nd Edition (Hardcover)

This book moved me to really begin studying my family history in depth. The Researcher's Guide to American Genealogy explains where to begin to look for your roots, and what these sources reveal about your ancestors. It also prepares you on how to keep the data you've gathered organized. A must for the beginner and the experienced alike