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Book Review of The Genealogist's Address Book

The Genealogist's Address Book
jjares avatar reviewed on + 3413 more book reviews


This book opened up a whole new world of genealogy pursuit! The only reason I gave 4 stars to this book was because of its age it was printed in 1995.

At first, I didnt expect much more than the state vital statistics office info, the National Archives info and perhaps the national historical societies. However, on page 11, there were pages of listings for Independent Publications unrelated to a geographic region or historical society. Heres just one example: Genealogical Queries Magazine. I found a complete copy of the magazine on the Internet Archive.org. Amazing!

In Part II, under each states banner, there is an amazing listing of the archives, libraries (with genealogy holdings), independent publications and miscellany.

Examples of the independent publications and miscellany for Texas include:

-Family History Research Foundation, College Station, TX
-Military History Associates, Denton, TX
-Society of Southwest Archivists, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, TX, and
-Taproot Publishers, Dallas, TX (Publ. of Genealogical Query Index), Dallas, TX

Part III includes ethnic and religious organizations and research centers. Part IV has the special resources:

-Lineage and Hereditary Societies
-Surname Registries
-Adoption Registries, Search Groups and Information Centers,
-Computer Interest,
-Genealogical Software,
-Professional Bodies,
-Newspaper Columns,
-Publishers,
-Microform Publishers,
-Electronic Publishers,
-Self-Publishing,
-Booksellers,
-Antiquarian Bookdealers,
-Lending Libraries,
-Miscellaneous (general, products and services, military)

Besides a general index, there is an Index to Periodicals and Newsletters. It took days to carefully go through the listings (50+ pages) to see the array of publications available.

Finally, theres a yellow section at the end of the book with advertisements. I checked for an online presence of over one-half of the ads but many were gone (retired, closed businesses, etc).

Obviously, it would be better to access THE GENEALOGIST'S ADDRESS BOOK, 6th Edition by Elizabeth Petty Bentley (Feb 9, 2009). However, this large volume (650+ pages) offers a wealth of information and it is often available at your local library.