The Handybook contains: well-researched histories of each state, state capital and the territories
descriptions and addresses for each state's major record collections and protocol for requesting vital records
information on researching records for nineteen foreign countries
complete contact information for libraries, repositories, and historical/genealogical societies
detailed county maps and over 120 migration trail maps
The Handybook also incorporates an in-depth tracking system for every county in each state, including counties that no longer exist, to help genealogists determine which county records to research. This timesaving feature makes this volume the most comprehensive resource for county information in the United States available today.
The book's organization continues what we've been used to. Each state's chapter (the District of Columbia is here, too) begins with a brief overview of its history and governmental organization, followed by a lengthy list of societies, libraries, and other records repositories, and then a newly updated and expanded topically organized subject bibliography. Then comes the list of counties, each with date of formation and parent county, the full official address, phone number, and web site address (new to this edition), and details on which record groups are available for what time-spans. A simplified color map clearly shows county boundaries, rivers, and a few major cities. Border counties of adjacent states are also usefully shown, but not highways, railroads, or county seats, which I could wish had been included. A blank page for notes at the end of each chapter may encourage the user to record updates of contact information.
Following the U.S. section are similar chapters for nineteen selected foreign countries, all European or English-speaking (Canada, Australia, and New Zealand), plus Mexico. Again, while the selected countries probably are those for which most American genealogists will want to have contact information, there is actually a growing interest in our pluralistic society regarding Japanese, Vietnamese, Indian, and Middle Eastern family research, and well-written chapters on the resources of those comparatively unfamiliar ancestral lands would have been most welcome.
Checking under state and local societies and libraries whose addresses and phone numbers I know from my own research (including a couple that had recently changed), I found several instances of sloppy fact-checking and copyediting, including duplicated listings under "Louisiana Genealogical and Historical Society" and "Louisiana Genealogical & Historical Society," one of which had an incorrect ZIP code and an outdated phone number. And why are there three different listings for the Louisiana Historical Association, all with slightly different addresses -- and which one is correct?
Despite its recognized shortcomings (the editing problems have been noted in my reviews of previous editions), the _Handybook_ (which used to be two words, _Handy Book_) will continue to be a basic reference tool. If you have a copy of the 9th edition, you likely will be slow to purchase a copy of this monster, given its unavoidably high price, but I hope everyone will at least encourage their local libraries to acquire it!
