African American Family Histories and Related Works in the Library of Congress

The 183 English-language books in the following guide were cataloged during the period 1973- 1997, and cover topics ranging from abolitionists, American Loyalists, and revolutionaries to masters and slaves, freedmen, Civil War soldiers, and Cherokee Indians. In addition to listing published genealogies, there are handbooks on planning family reunions, abstracts of newspaper notices, and even some abstracts of funeral programs. To date, the individual states under which these books have been cataloged are Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Kentucky, Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia. Illustrations are included in 130 of the publications, and many of them also cite bibliographical references. All entries are arranged under subject headings with pertinent cross-references, thus obviating the need for a subject index.

In 1988 the Library of Congress published Sandra M. Lawson's Generations Past: A Selected List of Sources for Afro-American Genealogical Research. This filled the need for a bibliography of published sources that was sufficiently broad to encompass African-American family histories, genealogical handbooks, genealogical organizations, newspaper collections, biographical indexes, and catalogs. Essentially, this publication is a continuation of Generations Past. Researchers, therefore, will benefit by consulting both of these publications.

Subjects

Adams family to Artis family
Bailey family to Butler family
Campbell family to Curtis family
Davis family to Funerals--Programs
Garrett family to Great Britain
Hackney family to Judkins family
Kansas slaves to Lynch family
Mamie family to Oklahoma slaves
Palmer family to Ryan family
Sain family to Sykes family
Taylor family to Turner family
Varick family to Wrench family