Friday, August 5, 2011

Book Review: "Genealogy at a Glance: German Genealogy Research"

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The Genealogical Publishing Company in Baltimore has published another in its series of "Genealogy at a Glance" laminated research guides - this time for German Genealogy Research, by Ernest Thode.  I reviewed several of similar works in Book Review: Genealogy at a Glance: "How-To" Series (French-Canadian, Scottish and Irish).

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 German Genealogy Research "Genealogy at a Glance" folder has these subjects:

* Contents list
* Quick Facts about Germany and German-speaking peoples in Europe and North America
*  German Emigration
*  Passenger Lists
* Unlocking German Family History - Places, Surnames, Given Names
* German Record Sources -- Vital Records, German Center for Genealogy, Berlin Document Center, Village Heritage Books and Histories, Censuses, and References
 * Other Online Resources

This booklet is designed for the North American researcher who is not an expert in the subject - there's information about doing research in the USA, and information about the home country 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.

This four-page laminated booklet costs $7.95. You can order it through the  http://www.genealogical.com/ Store, or use the link for the German Genealogy Research booklet and click on the "Add to Cart" link.

Disclosure: Genealogical.com contacted me recently and asked me to provide a review of this booklet. They mailed me a review copy for my personal use as remuneration for this review. 

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