Friday, February 4, 2011

Book Review: Genealogy at a Glance: "How-To" Series

The Genealogical Publishing Company in Baltimore has released several "Genealogy at a Glance: How To" laminated research guides in the last month or so.  They include:

1)  French-Canadian Genealogy Research, by Denise R. Larson



2.  Scottish Genealogy Research, by David Dobson


3.  Irish Genealogy Research, by Brian Mitchell


Each of these research guides has four laminated pages on one 11" x 17" paper (folded).  They are designed to give the user the basic elements of genealogy research in the allotted space.  They provide an overview of the facts a researcher needs to know in order to begin and proceed successfully with research in the subject.

The French-Canadian "Genealogy at a Glance" folder has these subjects:

*  Contents list
*  Quick Facts about Canada and French-Canadians
*  French Canada history
*  Unlocking French-Canadian Family History - Surnames, Quebec, Acadia, Huguenots
*  Civil and Church Records
*  Census Returns
*  Emigration and Naturalization
*  Major Record Repositories in Canada
*  Other Online Resources

The Scottish "Genealogy at a Glance" folder has these subjects:

*  Contents list
*  Quick Facts about Scotland and Scottish emigrants
*  Scottish Emigration Background
*  Unlocking Scottish History - Surnames, Paleography
*  Basic Genealogical Sources - Old Parish Registers, Post-1854 Statutory Registration of Births, Marriages and Deaths; Census Returns from 1841 to 1901.
*  Supplementary Record Sources
*  Major Online Resources

I don't have the Irish "Genealogy at a Glance" folder, but it probably has contents similar in form to the Scottish booklet.

It appears to me that these booklets are designed for the North American researcher who is not an expert in the subject - there's information about doing research in Canada and the USA, and information about the home countries once the researcher gets the ancestral line back to the home country.  A researcher with research expertise in the subjects would rely on quality published books about the country of interest. 

For someone like me that teaches and talks about genealogy a bit, they are invaluable because I can pull them out and provide some guidance to my student or colleague interested in the subject.

The beauty of these "Genealogy at a Glance" folders is that they are very light and portable in a briefcase or laptop case.  They are similar to the Quicksheets, created by Elizabeth Shown Mills, which are fixtures in my research case.

These four-page laminated booklets cost $7.95 each.  You can order them through http://www.genealogical.com/ - use the links above for each "Genealogy at a Glance" folder.

Disclosure:  Genealogical.com contacted me recently and asked me to provide a review of the French-Canadian and Scottish "Genealogy at a Glance" folders.  They mailed me a review copy for my personal use as remuneration for this review.  I threw in the comments about the Irish folder.

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