Carnival of Genealogy - 56th edition - Part I

The 56th Carnival of Genealogy will be published in two parts. For this edition of the carnival, bloggers were supposed to list the ten books in their genealogical libraries that they find absolutely essential. Almost all of us could probably come up with many more titles, but there really was a method to my madness, and I discovered that genealogy bloggers are just like my college students. Some follow the directions better than others! Part I consists of the links to the individual submissions. Part II is a compilation of the results of those submissions. Which titles are valued most by geneabloggers? You'll see the results. The call for submissions for the 57th edition will be posted with each part of the Carnival so that it can be easily found later.

Robert Baca presents 10 Essential Books in My Genealogy Library posted at The Baca / Douglas Genealogy and Family History Blog. His list focuses on New Mexico Hispanic research.

Terry Thornton presents Ten Books I Use Most Frequently in Writing Hill Country posted at Hill Country of Monroe County, Mississippi. He explains his entry: "Because I am not a genealogist, I own few reference books in that field. There are, however, a group of books and references materials I use on a daily basis to write about the hill country of Monroe County, Mississippi. This article takes a look at each of those ten books, unpublished documents, digital files, and CDs."

Myrt :) presents 10 essential books in my genealogy library posted at DearMYRTLE's Genealogy Blog. The first few books in her list are some of the ones that I expect to see on a lot of lists.

Jasia presents 10 Essential Books for Polish, Michigan, and Detroit Genealogical Research posted at Creative Gene. She says: "I can't imagine doing Polish and Michigan genealogy research without these books. They are largely responsible for the success I've had with my research. I owe a debt of gratitude to the authors. See if there aren't some books here that would help you with your research! "

Bob Franks presents Ten Essential Research Books in My Personal Library posted at Itawamba History Review: The Itawamba Historical Society. In describing his choices, he states: "As most of my research relates to Mississippi and Itawamba County in particular, most of my essential research books, both genealogy and history, pertain to Itawamba County, Mississippi. ."

Midge Frazel presents Slate & Sandstone: New England Books posted at Granite in My Blood. Midge says, "My state trio of Connecticut, Massachusetts and Rhode Island ancestors makes using research materials in print a necessary part of my day despite my always-wired lifestyle. My list reflects compiled genealogies and gravestone studies with a splash of research tools. "

Linda Stienstra presents Seriously? My Ten Essential Genealogy Books? Only Ten? posted at From Axer to Ziegler. Linda says, "I decided to just concentrate on the essential books for Lancaster County research. I have a lot of essential books, but some of them cover all research, and some of them cover other areas. Since I live in Lancaster County and concentrate my research her, I picked Lancaster County books. Obvious choice for me. " Since I had Amish ancestors in Lancaster and Berks Counties, I have actually used several of the titles she mentioned.

While this next post doesn't really fit our call, it is of interest to many of us. Fiona King presents 100 Awesome Blogs for History Junkies posted at Best Colleges Online. Check out her list.

Julie Cahill Tarr presents GenBlog - 10 Essential Genealogy Books posted at GenBlog. Julie includes several general titles as well as some specific to Irish and German ethnicity.

Sheri Fenley presents 10 Books I Have Used in the Last 6 Months posted at The Educated Genealogist. I'm sure you'll all get a smile when you find out the theme of this edition of the Carnival helped Sheri!

Janet Iles presents Janet the Researcher's 10 essential genealogy books posted at Janet the researcher. She has several selections that reflect her interest in Canadian genealogy and several on writing family histories.

Bill West presents ON MY BOOKSHELF posted at West in New England. Bill describes his ten choices as "books that either have given me information on my ancestors or insights on the times in which they lived."

Schelly Talalay Dardashti presents Tracing the Tribe: The Jewish Genealogy Blog: Ashkenazi, Sephardi: Essential Jewish genealogy books posted at Tracing the Tribe: The Jewish Genealogy Blog. Schelly says that these are "essential books for Jewish genealogy." She tells us about the challenges of those who have and don't have Eastern European ancestry and presents two lists, one for each of these groups (Ashkenazi and Sephardi genealogy), which present different sources, languages and challenges.

Laura presents 10 Favorites from My Genealogy Bookshelf posted at Life at the Home20. Her selections are mainly general genealogical books and case studies.

Stephen J. Danko presents Ten Essential Books in My Genealogy Library posted at Steve's Genealogy Blog. Stephen's titles include some of interest to those researching Polish and French Canadian ancestry.

Wendy Littrell presents Books for Genealogy « All My Branches Genealogy posted at All My Branches Genealogy. Wendy's list includes books from family histories to county histories. She says, "I return to them time and again and learn something new each time."

Donna Pointkouski presents 10 Essential Books in My Genealogical Library posted at What's Past Is Prologue. Her list includes many on researching Polish genealogy.

Craig Manson presents Ten Books Essential for Genealogists: Some ?Different? Thinking posted at GeneaBlogie. Craig describes his selections this way: "Everybody can probably agree on the top books by the top authors in our field. But how about books that add context and broaden our perspectives? Here they are." Craig isn't quite as specific on exact titles, but he does describe some books that all genealogists should use in their research.

Msteri presents 10 Essential Books in my Genealogy Library posted at Heritage Happens. Her selections include a couple of fictional titles with a setting very important to her research. Because there is truth in the mix, she includes these in her top ten.

Kathryn Lake Hogan presents Books on My Shelf; Books on My Desk posted at LOOKING4ANCESTORS. Kathryn at LOOKING4ANCESTORS says "I have a large wall unit in my office which houses a lot of things including my genealogy books. Often, I have books laying open or stacked on my desk as well. Does this count as a library?" Be sure to check out her list at "Books on My Shelf;, Books on My Desk".

P. Taylor presents What's on my nightstand? Why my ten favorite genealogy books of course! posted at Taylorstales-Genealogy. She includes quite a few titles focusing on online research and some Midwestern research titles. She even mentions a title that she'd love to obtain.

Lidian presents The Virtual Dime Museum: Ten Indispensible Books posted at The Virtual Dime Museum. Lidian describes her choices this way: "These are the ten books that are either on my desk, acessible through Heritage Quest (and therefore also on my desk, in a way) or nearby - the ones I turn to constantly as references for history and genealogy."

Thomas Macentee presents Destination: Austin Family: My Ten Essential Genealogy-Related Books posted at Destination: Austin Family. Thomas says he "cares more for e-books than actual tomes and seeks them out whenever possible." He shares his top 10 and tells us about a new, free, on-line tool that instantly formats your source info for you!

Becky Wiseman presents The Indispensable Bookshelf posted at kinexxions. Becky says, "It is truly embarrassing to have to admit this, but I do not have 10 genealogy-specific reference books on my bookshelf! Gasp! It's true though. That said, there are several very useful items on my indispensable bookshelf."

My own entry is Ten Indispensable Books in My Genealogical Library. I include five general sources and five regional or ethnic ones.

Bob Kramp presents Representatives of Essential Books in my Genealogical Library posted at Life's Journey. Bob says, "I present several books in my personal library which I use to expand the stories of my ancestors in both a historical and geographical context. The are not so much general reference books in genealogy, as one-of-a-kind books and pamphlets that will be difficult to obtain some day." He gave us a few more than ten!

M. Diane Rogers presents Ten Genealogical Books I Can't Do Without - Carnival of Genealogy posted at CanadaGenealogy, or, 'Jane's Your Aunt'. She says, "I wish there were 10 books written about my ancestors! Although there aren't, I do have a good number of books at home and I use libraries a great deal, especially the British Columbia Genealogical Society's Walter Draycott Library. Here are a few I rely on or re-read often. I'm cheating a bit here with the #10 for my list; I'd have another 10 I'd recommend, especially for Canada or British Columbia. Quite a few of these are Canadian books - but only four cover Canadian topics - and some of those IRWINS did live in the United States."

Elizabeth O'Neal presents Tops in my Genealogy Library posted at Little Bytes of Life. Elizabeth's featured selections focus on American, French-Canadian, and Irish research, genealogical standards, and resources for filling out those DAR applications!

Jessica Oswalt presents 10 Essential Genealogy Books That I Have Or Wish I Have posted at Jessica's Genejournal. She includes books she owns and books she wishes she owned.

Dru Pair presents My Ten Favorite How-To Genealogy Books posted at Find Your Folks. She focuses on "how-to" books.

Randy Seaver presents 10 Essential Books in my Genealogy Library posted at Genea-Musings. Randy includes ten basic titles and a baker's dozen of regional books.

footnoteMaven presents 10 Essential Books In My Genealogy Library X 4 + 6 posted at footnoteMaven. Her description says it all, "I tried. I really tried, but I'm just not good at following directions!" She groups her selections into the categories of research, writing, history, and photography.

Miriam Robbins Midkiff presents Miriam's Ten Essential Genealogy Books posted at AnceStories: The Stories of My Ancestors. She lists only books she owns.

Call For Submissions! The topic for the next edition of the COG will be: I read it in the news! Newspapers can be a wonderful source of family history information. Share some aspect about your family history that you learned about in a newspaper. Articles, advertisements, obituaries, classified ads, photos... all are fair game if they appeared in a newspaper. What did you learn about your family from this information? Was the information accurate? How did you learn about this information... online search? Perusing old newspapers? A clipping saved by a relative? Fill us in on your family scoops... who in your family was in the news? The deadline for submissions is October 1st. The next edition will be hosted at the Creative Gene blog.



To All COG Participants: Please use a descriptive phrase in the title of any articles you plan to submit and/or write a brief description/introduction to your articles in the "comment" box of the blogcarnival submission form. This will give readers an idea of what you've written about and hopefully interest them in clicking on your link. Introductions for your articles will not be provided for you due to the volume of articles submitted. Thank you!