Our Library Collections: Reference Books, Part 2

We have over 100 years of NGS journals

One in a series by CGS member Chris Pattillo, highlighting some of our holdings at the CGS Library in Oakland.  For a fuller listing of books, journals, and more, consult the CGS Library catalog in WorldCat.

The rest of our reference books are in the back corner of the library beyond the bank of computers. Similar to the state books, the reference books begin with journals. I counted eleven different sets of hard copy journals. The first is The Augustan Society Omnibus. Book 14 of this set has 160 pages and dozens of articles covering a wide breadth of topics including Falconry, Chivalry, Heraldry, and Colonial Genealogy. Page 73 offers “Wicca Study Circle and Colonial Witches and Witchcraft Study Group – A Pennsylvania Witch.” There are sections by French, Germanic, Irish, Scandinavian, Scottish and Hispanic Study groups.

One of our largest journal collections is the National Genealogical Society Quarterly. We have journals covering the period 1912 - 2019 – over 100 years! The March issue begins with a lengthy article titled “A Family for Mary (Jones) Hobbs Clark of Carroll County, Arkansas.” It is an extremely well-documented piece where the footnotes occupy more space than the article itself. Of particular interest to some will be the lengthy section on DNA.

A 3-page tree for my 8th great grandparents
begins on page 1122 of this book.

There are several volumes on royalty in this section including a three-volume set titled The Royal Ancestry Bible by Michael L. Call. It contains 3400 pedigree charts and royal ancestors of 300 colonial American families. Just for fun I checked for the one family name of mine that I thought might possibly be included and sure enough found my eighth great grandparents, Dr. John Waller and Mary Pomfrett, on page 1122. Their pedigree chart extends over three pages and includes several names I am not familiar with – so I guess you know how I’ll be spending my afternoon.

One of the many things we inherited from the California Historical Society is a twelve-volume set of American Ancestry: Giving The Name and Descent, in the Male Line, of Americans Whose Ancestors Settled in the United States Previous to the Declaration of Independence, by Thomas P. Hughes. Volume One was published in 1887. While the first two volumes focus on two counties in New York State, the remainder cover the whole of the United States. Each listing provides a brief biography for each individual.

An example of one of the family trees in
Bible and Family Records by the DAR

This section of the library holds two shelves of blue-clad books containing Bible and Family Records that were collected and transcribed in 1953 by the California State Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution. Margaret Griffith was the Editor. Our collection begins with Volume Ten so if you happen to have volumes 1-9 in your personal collection, please consider a donation to the library. Each volume has a listing of the contents followed by a carbon copy of typed pedigree charts. It is mind-boggling to me that someone typed these highly formatted pages without a word processor.

These are followed by two similar volumes that were prepared by CGS members in 1921 and 1944. Most of the material in these books is typed but the 1944 edition has numerous hand annotations.  Next are several volumes of California Genealogical Society Collections: Family Histories. Volume One includes the trees of the Perkins, Weeks, Snow, Knight, Wines, Armstrong, Thompson and Davis families. Each is quite substantial.

This group of reference books ends with books about immigration, military records, four volumes about Southern families and a few other topics.

Copyright © 2019 by California Genealogical Society

Our Library Collections: Reference Books, Part 1

One in a series by CGS member Chris Pattillo, highlighting some of our holdings at the CGS Library in Oakland.  For a fuller listing of books, journals, and more, consult the CGS Library catalog in WorldCat.

Two of the classic reference books available at our library

Currently our General Reference books are located in two places in the library. They outgrew the back corner so now there are four shelves of reference books at the end of the tables opposite the front desk. These shelves offer a rich collection of how-to books including most of the new and old classics. One such book is Evidence Explained Citing History Sources from Artifacts to Cyberspace by Elizabeth Shown Mills. For anyone who is a series researcher this is a must-have or use source. It is an intimidating book – nearly 900 pages that explains “how to cite every conceivable kind of source.” We have the second edition. The third edition from Amazon is $59.99 so the cost of a CGS membership is much cheaper.

We have the two-volume set of Genealogical Research: Methods and Sources by the late Milton Rubincam, published by the American Society of Genealogists in 1980. In the forward Rubincam is described as “everyone’s favorite genealogist, knowledgeable, indefatigable, conscientious, thorough, and amazingly unrufflable.” Chapter 1 of this book is titled "Adventures in Genealogy." This is a very readable book.

Google Your Family Tree by Daniel M. Lynch

Google Your Family Tree: Unlock the Hidden Power of Google by Daniel M. Lynch was a donation from CGS volunteer Barbara Hill. It has fourteen chapters starting with "Search Engine Basics" and including "Advanced Search Techniques," "Google Books" – which I have used a lot – "Google New Archives," "Google maps," and much more. There are five appendices including Appendix B – "Top Sites for Genealogists." The book is well illustrated and indexed.

One of a few reference books in our library that focus on specific ethnic or cultural group research

We have a couple of resource books for researching Jewish heritage. I found one book on the shelf for African American Genealogy by James M. Rose and Alic Eichholz titled Black Genesis. This book has chapters on general topics like "Oral History," "National Archives and Federal Records," "Military Records," "Migratory Patterns." These are followed by sections for each state that summarize what is available for each state.

Christine Schaefer's book about colonial American research

Another “Where To Look” book is the Genealogical Encyclopedia of the Colonial Americas by Christina K. Schaefer. In the preface she explains that the book “has been written out of my frustration at the lack of an existing single-source reference for Colonial America.” Schaefer addressed this problem by producing over 800 pages that help researchers find the records they seek from this period.

Practically every book in this section has something to offer. Next time you are in the library you might want to see what may be of help in your personal research.

Copyright © 2019 by California Genealogical Society