Massachusetts Genealogy Guide: Difference between revisions

This is a lengthy and detailed list of books and articles relating to general topics for Massachusetts. The focus was on books published before 1995, so newer books are welcome additions to this list. The bibliography is divided into several topical groups plus a general section.<br>  

|-

! colspan="3" | Quick Links to Massachusetts Bibliography

*Alexander Young, ''Chronicles of the First Planters of the Colony of Massachusetts Bay, 1623 to 1636'' (Boston, 1846), viii, 571 pp.<br>Digital versions at [http://archive.org/details/chroniclesoffirs00youn Internet Archive], [http://books.google.com/books?id=IcASAAAAYAAJ Google Books], and [http://search.ancestry.com/search/db.aspx?dbid=27031 Ancestry] ($) or [http://search.ancestry.com/search/db.aspx?dbid=48126 Ancestry] ($) (rep.).<br>[http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/950510 WorldCat (Other Libraries)]; {{FHL|144722|item|disp=FHL book 974.4 H2ya or film 896651 Item 1}} (with digital link).<br>

<center>[[#top|Top of Page]] || [[#bib00|Top of Histories and Genealogies]]</center>  

== Massachusetts Genealogy Records  ==

The original record still is found with the clerk of the town or city. All these records back to the earliest settlement of a town can always be viewed at the [http://www.sec.state.ma.us/ele/eleclk/clkidx.htm town or city clerk’s office]. Most all town and city vital records have been microfilmed by the Family History Library and microfiched by the Holbrook Research Institute of Oxford, Mass. [now Archive Publishing of Provo, Utah]. This tends to be the most complete record of the event. Since 1841, there should be a second copy with the state and sometimes has abbreviated information from the original. This second copy is the most widely available source for researchers. It has been preserved by the same two vendors listed above and can be found on online in a variety of places and forms as listed below.<br>  

|-

! colspan="2" | Quick Links to Vital Records

This is the history of the court system. It is broken up into historical periods and then a discussion of special courts, records, legal definitions, and bibliography. Realize that except for the upper courts, all records and actions were on the county level. To find detailed information regarding a particular county's courts, see that county page from the [[Massachusetts Genealogy Guide#Counties|links provided above]].  

|-

! colspan="3" | Quick Links to court history

=== Newspapers  ===

== Massachusetts Repositories  ==

=== Archives  ===

=== Libraries and Societies  ===

|-

| Boston  

| This library specifically does not try to duplicate the collections of the NEHGS (below), but has many things useful when dealing with probelmatic research. This is the oldest historical society in the nation and thus has extensive and broad manuscript holdings. Their holdings are in their [http://www.masshist.org/abigail online catalog Abigail].

|-

| This is the largest collection of U.S. printed material to 1876 in the United States. It has extensive newspaper and manuscripts holdings and a strong genealogical collection. A [http://www.americanantiquarian.org/collectionsguide.htm detailed guide] to the collection by subject is available online. Their [http://catalog.mwa.org/ catalog] is online, but see the caveat.

|}

== Massachusetts References  ==