Recommended for basic library genealogy collections.

books:

	• The Researcher's Guide to American Genealogy, Third Edition Val D. Greenwood Genealogical Publishing Company, 2001 - 662 pages average customer review:based on 8 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Absolutely essential for all American genealogists

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.

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Useful Tool for the Amateur Genealogist

This is a great primer for researchers. Basic research techniques are explained and detailed. Lots of tips and tricks. Some of the techniques are a little too detailed like how to compose a letter and create a manual filing system but all in all a very worthwhile book. Also some of the information is a bit dated but most of it is timeless. I'm certain that I'll be referring to it for many years to come.

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Must have even for beginners

This book was purchased as a textbook for a research class. Had I known this valuable and helpful information, much of my past research time would have been shortened and to the point. Especially great is the rational behind the suggestions and the reviews of important points.

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BASIC BUT EFFECTIVE

Everyone seems to agree that this book is the standard text in genealogical research. The reason for this is the inclusion of sufficient detail to be useful without sacrificing scope and breadth of coverage. Prior editions gave short shrift to the computer revolution in genealogy. The third edition remedies this. Why not five stars? The writing fails to inspire. Granted this is a textbook on a sometimes dry and technical topic. The author also provides the right approach to the topic by focusing on story telling, basic research and avoiding beginners pitfalls. But I am still looking for the genealogy book that takes the topic to a high level. Genealogy is not just about correct principles, accurate research or even the stories that Val Greenwood encourgages us to write. Genealogy is about identity, individual, familial and national. If we are satisfied merely to explore our curiosity and to get the facts straight, then this is a dead science. No one seems more qualified than Val Greenwood to lead us into this deeper meaning. Perhaps a next edition or thinner separte volume will take us there.

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Recommended for basic library genealogy collections.

An excellent reference recommended for libraries building basic collections on genealogy. Val Greenwood's Researcher's Guide To American Genealogy, 3rd Edition provides important updated links between computers and genealogical research, including chapters on property rights of women, new insights on the evaluation of genealogical evidence, and updated information on the 1020 census.

reviews: page 1, 2

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.

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