Long before today’s advances, there was Greenwood’s researcher’s guide

Val D. Greenwood published the first edition of “The Researcher’s Guide to American Genealogy” in 1973, way before the internet, digitized records, DNA testing kits and other new advances forever changed the way people explore their family trees.

Late last year, he produced the fourth edition, 240 pages longer than the first. The latest edition is divided into two parts, “Background to Research” and “Records and Their Use.” Greenwood covers all the relevant areas of genealogical research, finely tuned and updated over the last 45 years. Interesting to note, the 1990 edition listed computers in a third section titled “Some New Ideas.” Earlier editions can be found in most genealogy library collections or in regular library reference areas.

People who have used the book in the past described it as an excellent tool for teaching sources and how they could be used. In today’s fast-moving world, the same holds true. It’s good to have a standard genealogy reference text to send people to in order to “read up” on things. It is also important to have the text available in one’s own library for the same purpose. Many times, we scramble around the internet for background material, while Greenwood, a lawyer, has covered it already. Other reviewers have emphasized the importance of this “core addition” to one’s library. Aside from having a personal mentor at your side, “you can’t get much better help than Greenwood,” one reader said. In a recent interview, Greenwood, a Utah native, said he felt his book was important to provide the core basics for understanding research methodology. That was one reason he updated it, to make it as current as possible. The book is available in paperback only for $49.95, plus postage, from the Genealogical Publishing Co. of Baltimore. Go to genealogical.com, or call 800-296-6687.