One of my more popular lectures, or at least one often
delivered, is a general description of NEHGS holdings on New England. Since we
own only somewhat less than everything in print on this region, I have also
labelled this lecture "The New England Core in Print." Much of it--the best
classic genealogies, the best town histories, the best journals, and the best
19th century immigration material-- have been covered in the last four columns.
Even more--on new compendia and databases, English origins, royal descents,
Mayflower sources, multi-ancestor works, and new "town"
genealogies--are covered in the bibliographical essay on recent progress in 17th
century genealogy which I contributed to the Sesquicentennial issue (Oct. 1996)
of the Register. Another section, on new sources for the 1750-1850
"century of lost ancestors" became the article I submitted to the 75th
anniversary issue (Aug-Oct. 1997) of The American Genealogist. The
major other sections of this talk cover what might be called printed primary
records--vital data, census indexes and transcriptions, and will indexes and
abstracts. Our census holdings I can briefly summarize as all of New England
through 1910 (with Soundex Indexes for the 1880 and 1910) plus NH through
1920. We have some of the 1910 census for the rest of the country, much
material through 1850, and films for scattered other states. Copies of all New
England censuses, 1790-1920, plus all Soundexes, are at the local federal
records and archives center (the National Archives) in Waltham.
The
Society owns all Massachusetts printed vital records, including the
approximately 75 VR volumes we published in the early decades of this century,
plus of course our recent volumes on Charlestown (1984,1995), Pepperrell (1985),
Swansea and Townsend (1992), and Sandwich (1996), all except Swansea still
available from our sales department. A recent acquisition is a sizeable portion
of the Mass. VR collection of my longtime friend, Jay Mack Holbrook of Oxford,
Mass. Jay and his wife have photographed all VR documents in most Mass. towns;
their microfiche includes whatever indexes or guides the town clerks prepared,
and of course is in original 17th, 18th, or 19th century handwriting. NEHGS also
owns films of all Mass. births, marriages, and deaths, 1841 to 1905 (Boston
since 1847 or so), plus indexes; the originals of this series are at the Mass.
State Archives. These VRs are the country's oldest, designed by Society founder
Lemuel Shattuck. All records, if complete, contain names of parents (even of
people dying) and most after say the Civil War include the mother's maiden
surname. For the period after 1905 we have indexes only, at present of births
for 1906-1910, 1926-1935, 1941-1945 marriages through 1925, and deaths through
the mid-1970s. For Connecticut we have the Barbour Collection of civically
recorded pre-1850 VRs, but nothing thereafter ( 1851-1897 records are still in
the individual towns). We have long owned Arnold's Vital Records of Rhode
Island plus Alden Beaman's additions to it (mostly Washington Co. or
Newport) and the Providence VR series through 1940. A recent acquisition on film
were the Rhode Island births and marriages 1853-94 and deaths 1853-1900. We hold
the Vermont VRs from the 1760s to 1908, those of NH through 1900 (cumbersomely
arranged, by 1st and 3rd letter of the surname), and 80 Maine towns through
1892, plus the entire state 1892-1954. In general then we own films of all
original VRs, not only at the Mass. State Archives, but also at the Conn. State
Library, and, pre-1900, at Providence, RI, Middlesex, Vt., and Concord, NH.
When these are combined with our VRs for Atlantic Canada--everything readily
available in Halifax, St. John, and Charlottetown, again, I believe, to 1900 or
almost so--our holdings include most available pre-20th century VRs for areas
north and east of New York City. As we also acquire wills and deeds, for Mass.
and northern New England especially, we are becoming a major regional archive of
original records.
Census indexes include all New England states through
1860, and 1870 for Cumberland Co. Maine and Rhode Island, plus 1870 Mass. on
CD-ROM. Also available are Ann Lainhart's transcriptions of 1855-65 Mass. state
censuses for many towns. Will indexes include those for Suffolk Co. (Boston)
through the mid-20th century, and for Middlesex, Norfolk, and Worcester
counties, until usually the early 20th century. These volumes are the same as
those originally in the four county courthouses, now generally at the State
Archives, and cover what might be called Mass. central. For Mass. north there is
Melinde Sanborn's index of Essex Co. probates, and for Mass. south
(Mayflower country) there are Ralph V. Wood's index for Plymouth Co and
two vols. of Bristol Co. abstracts (through 1762) by the late H.L. "Peter"
Rounds.
I will conclude this column by noting the enormous increase in
the ease of research when a major collection of genealogical books is
accompanied by a major archive of original materials, both growing. Access to
the Mormon Family Search program, plus the privilege of borrowing films from
Salt Lake City, make the combination even better. I hope other major book
libraries will consider acquiring copies of the VRs, wills, and deeds of their
regions. I know that some libraries have indeed begun such an effort, or have it
considerably underway. The staff and many library patrons at NEHGS are grateful
indeed for our much improved coverage of the American and Canadian northeast.