The author addresses the problem confronting every genealogist--how to conduct original research in the archives and still find the time to examine the important published literature, especially older works with inadequate indices. The author has carefully chosen books which have major genealogical significance, but carry no indices. From these volumes, he has extracted surname entries and compiled them in a listing with the appropriate references to the original books which may be borrowed through library interlibrary loan. The guide to the reference book listed here is currently used in notecard form as a major reference source by the Lloyd House of the Alexandria, Virginia library system. As noted in the title, it includes references also to West Virginia counties and families. Each entry has been carefully checked and all references to a particular surname have been integrated into a single entry. This volume indexes a total of 802 volumes of Virginia family histories and research sources. It is a labor which required years of careful, patient, page-by-page, examination of these books. This book will prove to be a classic research tool for Virginia and West Virginia genealogical investigation.
Patrick G. Wardell
1990, iv+ 429 pp.
107-TAVE
