Genealogy Help

Guide Books and General Books on Genealogy

Guidebooks provide instruction on how to proceed, and where and how to locate information. Some overlap with bibliographies by providing lists of pertinent titles. Some important genealogical guides to be found in the Altoona Area Public Library collection are:

     Eakle, Arlene, and Johni Cerney. The Source: A Guidebook of American Genealogy. Salt Lake City: Ancestry Publishing Co., 1984. R 929.1 Sou (Reference Dept.)

     Helm, Matthew, and April Leigh Helm. Genealogy Online for Dummies. Foster City, Ca.: IDG Books Worldwide, 1998. 929.10285 Hel (Non-Fic)

     Hoenstine, Floyd G. Guide to Genealogical and Historical Research in Pennsylvania, 2d. ed. Hollidaysburg, Pa.: Hoenstine Rental Library, 1958. 016.9748 H671 (PA Room)

A variety of search strategies should be used to locate all of the titles the library has to offer. The broadest approach will bring over 180 titles which may not all be of interest to you. Some approaches follow.

     Conduct a Subject Keyword search of the Public Access Catalog using combinations of terms:

"genealogy" (This is the broadest search which brings up over 180 titles)
"genealogy--handbooks, manuals, etc."
"genealogy--sources"
"genealogy--dictionaries"
"genealogy--methodology"
"genealogy--software"
"genealogy--computer programs"
"genealogy--data processing"
"genealogy--Pennsylvania"
"genealogy--Altoona (or Hollidaysburg, Martinsburg, etc.)
"genealogy--Blair County" (or another PA county)
"genealogy--catalogs"
"genealogy--Great Britain" (or Ireland, Italy, German, Hispanic American, etc.)

     Other related terms to search:

"kinship"
"family"
"family history"
"family tree"
"clans"
"United States history--Blair County"