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Genealogy

Collection Policy Statement Index

(Class CS)

I. Introduction
II. Scope
III. Research strengths
IV. Comparison with other major research collections
V. General policy
VI. Collection levels for Genealogy

I. Introduction

Genealogy, the study of family history, is defined by class CS. It includes compiled family histories from around the world, royalty, nobility, and peerage information, and personal and family names by country and nationality.

II. Scope

In addition to class CS, other related material of great significance to genealogy is found in the areas of archival resources, biography, church history, folklore, geography, history, and local history. Important genealogical resources are also found in special collections of manuscripts, maps and atlases, microforms, newspapers, photographs, rare books, CD-ROMs and other electronic forms, housed in various custodial divisions of the Library.

III. Research strengths

The Library of Congress has one of the world's major collections of U.S. and foreign genealogical publications. The Library's genealogy collection began as early as 1815 when Thomas Jefferson's library was purchased. The Jefferson Library included the Domesday Book, Sir William Dugdale's The Baronetage of England, and Peerage of Ireland. Because many genealogies are self-published and have been given to the Library for many generations from around the world, the Library's genealogy collection now contains more than 40,000 compiled genealogies.

The collection is strongest in United States publications, emphasizing American genealogy, with compiled family histories comprising the majority of works cataloged. The Library also collects foreign genealogy, and researchers doing foreign research will find strong collections for Western Europe, especially the United Kingdom, Ireland and Germany.

The Local History and Genealogy Reading Room offers several large CD-ROM titles produced by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Family History Library; other CD-ROMs will be added as appropriate. The reading room also houses an uncataloged collection of pedigree charts and unpublished genealogical material relating to families and geographic areas.

Although not belonging to the genealogical collections proper, as outlined in Class CS, further genealogical resources may be found in the Library's extensive collection of city and telephone directories. City Directories of the United States, in the Microform Reading Room, is a microform collection of directories from selected cities and towns, dating from the colonial period to as recently as 1960. This ongoing project uses the Library's directory collection as its core. These microforms are supplemented by the Library's extensive collection of unclassified city directories in paper.

Below are examples of a few of the many resources of significance to genealogists found in the special collections of the Library:

The Charles Edward Banks Manuscript Collection, housed in the Rare Book and Special Collections Division, comprises 54 uncataloged volumes relating to early Pilgrim families in Massachusetts. The collection is also available on microfilm in the Microform Reading Room.
Land ownership maps, housed in the Geography and Map Division, form a collection of 1500 U.S. county maps dating from the early nineteenth century that are both unique and useful to genealogists.
The Hamburg Passenger Lists, in the Manuscript Division. Sixty-six reels of microfilm listing passengers embarking for America from the port of Hamburg during the period 1850-1873.

IV. Comparison with other major research collections

The Library's collection of published genealogical material compares very favorably with other major collections such as those found at the Family History Library of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Salt Lake City, Utah; the Allen County Public Library, Fort Wayne, Indiana; the New York Public Library; the Daughters of the American Revolution Library, Washington, D.C.; and the Newberry Library, Chicago, Illinois. The Family History Library and the Daughters of the American Revolution Library are very specialized genealogical libraries with large collections of original records and microfilm which are not available at the Library of Congress. In addition, the National Archives should be consulted for its complementary collections for genealogical research.

V. General Policy

The Library collects genealogies and genealogical research materials at the collecting intensity levels indicated in Section VI below, in all languages wherever they may be published, whether in traditional print or other media, including CD-ROMs and other electronic forms, as practical and technical circumstances permit, and in all fields. Both monographs and serials, including self-published materials, are sought. The library acquires all substantial subject bibliographies and other reference works on genealogy, and collects extensively journals and major indexing and abstracting services in the field. Substantial is defined as information that is of significant research value, presenting new information, research, or analysis.

VI. Collecting levels for Genealogy

The Library's collection of genealogies and related materials in the CS classification is broadly representative of published literature in this field and attempts to encompass all significant published, including self-published, works in all applicable languages. Older material is retained for historical research.

The Library of Congress collects published, including self-published, genealogical material related to the United States and its possessions, including all ethnic groups, at the RLG Collecting Level 5.

The Library collects genealogical material for neighboring nations and those countries and areas from which significant cultural and ethnic communities in the United States derive at the RLG Collecting Level 4.

The Library collects genealogical bibliographies, Z688.G3,Z5301-Z5319, and Z6374.B5 at Collecting Level 4.

Patterns of publication and distribution for both mainstream and self-published works are significant factors in attempting to build collections that support genealogical research by United States citizens whose ancestry or personal origins are from around the world. Because of the ephemeral nature of many of the self-published compiled genealogies, and because genealogies are the top priority for acquisitions in this field, special efforts are required to identify and obtain this information.

Unpublished gift or Copyright materials are reviewed on a case by case basis; materials of an ephemera nature and brochures and pamphlets are generally added to the Vertical File in the Local History and

Genealogy Reading Room. Family history newsletters are typically filed in the Local History and Genealogy Reading Room's Vertical File until the Recommending Officer determines whether they should be sent forward for cataloging.

Approved August, 2000

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