The American Census Handbook

Though the U.S. federal population census is an essential source for family history research, searching the microfilmed handwritten schedules can be very time consuming and tedious. Census indexes, therefore, are very valuable, significant, and timesaving research aids. Noted author, genealogist, and chair of the Genealogy Committee of the American Library Association, Kemp has pulled together a wealth of information to help readers identify published indexes currently available for federal and other censuses up to and including the 1920 federal population census. Print, CD-ROM, and online titles are included, but indexes published in journals are not. The text is arranged in three sections: by year, general subjects, and geography. The year listings include general U.S. and regional indexes, while the general subjects section includes items concerning ethnic groups and military personnel and their families. The most extensive portion of the book is the geographical section, in which the author identifies numerous statewide and county indexes for each state. This section greatly expands the countywide index listings in William Dollarhide's The Census Book (Heritage Quest, 1999), which includes only those indexes at the Family History Library in Salt Lake City prior to 1986. Kemp has produced a most useful and extensive guide for researchers and librarians. Recommended for public and academic libraries and specialized collections of genealogy and local history.DDiane Sharp, Indiana State Lib., Indianapolis
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

In this multimedia time, many information professionals and researchers alike belive that print bibliographies are passé. Tom Kemp, a master of the indexing craft, once again demonstrates why such resources remain valuable reference tools. When you are trying to access a census, this handbook will start you on your way. -- Mary K. Mannix, Frederick County Public Libraries

At last, a guide to all published census indexes! This valuable and much-needed book will be of great use to both casual and serious researchers. I highly recommendThe American Census Handbook. -- P. William Filby, National Genealogical Society and Society of Genealogists, London

Kemp's work provides researchers with the means to deftly find their way through the many formats in which census records are now available: book, microform, CD-ROM, and online. This book greatly simplifies the task of determining what is available and where to find it. -- Michael D. Kirley, genealogy librarian, Los Angeles Public Library