RedBook

My favorite book on my shelf is Ancestry's RedBook. I use this book on almost a daily basis. I will never get rid of my hardback version, even though you can now view it for free on Ancestry.com.

Every time I try to view the online version of RedBook I find that I can not read the section where the column format was used. That's the part I use most often. It will tell you when a county was created and what the parent county was. It will tell you from what date Birth, Marriage, Land, Death etc. records were kept. And it will tell you where to write for those records.

The other part of the book that is formatted in the regular paragraph type formatting comes through my computer just fine. But I use that part less often.

More Genealogy Books In My Personal Library

The other day I wrote a blog about which books I would grab (if I had the time) in the event of an emergency. That got me to thinking about the books I have in my personal library (genealogy books that is) and which ones I love. Though I may use some of these books only occasionally, others I use all the time; so I thought I would share a glimpse into my library.

These books fall under the category of books I think everyone should own. I don't use them all the time but I have learned a great deal from them and occasionally will pull them out and take a "refresher" course by reading them or looking up a detail I have forgotten.

The Handybook for Genealogists Published by Everton Publishers
Map Guide to the U.S. Federal Censuses, 1790-1920 by William Thorndale and William Dollarhide
Courthouse Research for Family Historians Your Guide to Genealogical Treasures by Christine Rose
Reading Early American Handwriting by Kip Sperry

If you are just beginning to amass your very own "genealogical library" I highly recommend these books. They have proved very valuable to me over the years.

Every month or so I will post more information on my books. Let me know if you also have these books and if so what did you like about them or what did you not like. Tell me if you have any books you would recommend.

Happy Reading

Genealogy Books in my Personal Library

What would you grab if there was a fire? I would grab my photos and my computer. I'd also make sure that my animals were safe. But if I had a few hours to prepare for a disaster I would pick out some of my, probably not replaceable, books that I use for genealogy.

I am a book addict. I probably have more than 300 cookbooks alone. Then there are the mystery novels, how to books, craft books and the genealogy books. Most of them can be replaced if need be. But I have a few genealogy books that I don't think I could get again. They have long ago gone out of print. Books like, The Gerron Family Descendants of Solomon Geron. Or, Marriage Records from 1810 to 1910 in Meigs Co., Ohio. 


They aren't the books I turn to over and over but they probably can no longer be found.

It would be tempting to reach for The RedBook and The Source. Two books that should be in every genealogist's library. But I know I can still get a hard back copy of them and RedBook (if not both) is available digitally.

What books would you grab and which books would you be tempted to grab?

What's in your library?

RootsTech's Ban On Book Vendors

I have been posting to Facebook like a crazy woman ever since the news was made public.

To see where it all began go to  Leland Meitzler's post HERE. 

RootsTech now scares me for a whole new reason. 

Old School Genealogists already fear that the New School Genealogist relies too heavily on internet and digital creations for sourcing or just plain old "doing" their genealogy. In other words some fear that genealogy done by "New School" "Techie" genealogists might be limited to online research. That would be incredibly stupid. The vast amount of genealogy information can not be found in the digital world. 

So why would RootsTech, want to ban books in their vendor hall? Is this not a genealogy conference? Yes, it is a genealogy conference with a focus on techie stuff for use in the genealogy world but it is still a genealogy conference. Right?

Some genealogist, especially the beginners, might only pick one genealogy conference to go to in the whole year. Hopefully RootsTech would be that conference. How sad if that new genealogist could not find the one book that sends them down the road to discovery because RT doesn't have book vendors. 

When I first started doing genealogy I used "The Idiots Guide To Genealogy," I still recommend it to beginners. I would like to know what beginners guide RootsTech would recommend? And why can't I find it at RootsTech?

When technology catches up to (and contains) all the genealogical information that I use that is in print...then they can quit selling books. And don't tell me...well you can order that book, or buy it at one of the other national conferences. What if I want to look through the book first and decide if it pertains to my needs? What if I can only attend one national conference a year? I guess, if I can't buy books at RootsTech, and I know that good genealogy is based on using other sources in addition to digital ones, and I can get digital ones online...well then...hummmmm...my money is better spent going to NGS or FGS.

Not to mention that I can see all those techie things you're trying to sell me at FRYS or BEST BUY. Or I am sure my blogging buddies will tell me of the newest gizzmo I've just got to have...(can you say Flip-Pal). 

Personally I don't go to the vendor hall to look at all the new gizzmos. There is usually too big a crowd, or it's a demo of how a BOOK is digitized, or some such thing. While I am glad some books are being preserved by digitization...I don't need to know the How of it. I like to drive my car but I don't need to know how the car's electrical system works to take a drive.

And I don't spend hundreds of dollars to play pool or chess or Wii or pong or whatever else is in the "game room."

I go to RootsTech for the lectures when I do venture into the vendor hall (and don't get me wrong, I spend hundreds in there too) I mainly go for books. That's one of the reasons I drive to most of the conferences...so I can haul back books. If I fly I have to ship them. 

And RootsTech...don't you remember last year after Lisa Louise Cooke spoke there was a run on the Book Sellers to buy her book. Now tell me...do you really think speakers such as Lisa Louise Cooke come to speak at your conference for what you pay? What do you pay...I've heard it is the price of admission to the conference...if that's it then I would venture to guess that the speakers are counting on selling some of their books. So why would they want to speak at your conference if they can't get their books sold there?  Wake up! You're speakers sell books. They are your vendors. See this blog. 

It was my understanding that this was a genealogy conference that embraces technology not a technology conference that embraced genealogy. Or are we just a new market for the sales team?

Sharon Sergeant, in a Facebook post, said it so well, this conference is supposed to be "the marriage of genealogy to technology, not a divorce."

Come On RootsTech....think...it's not hard....who is your audience? Genealogists who use Technology or Techies who do genealogy?