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Archiver > CA-PCGS > 2003-05 > 1052976203


From: "Barbara Leak" <>
Subject: [CA-PCGS] Fw: New online index for DAR Library materials
Date: Wed, 14 May 2003 22:23:23 -0700


The DAR Library has a new online catalog. See below for more info.
Barbara


----- Original Message -----

May 14, 2003

Please visit the DAR's website (www.dar.org) some time to view the new index
that we have posted in the library's part of the site. Since the 1910s, DAR
members have been collecting unpublished genealogical materials, largely
Bible and cemetery transcriptions, in what we call the Genealogical Records
Committee Reports. There are nearly 18,000 volumes of these typescripts in
our library. We are the only collection with all of these compilations and
the volume numbering for these only works at the DAR Library. Many of you
may have some of the GRC Reports from your own state, but we have numbered
and arranged all of the state materials based on the holdings in our
collection, which we naturally consider to be the master set.

For the past couple of years we have had a project to index all of these
volumes and to create national index to this wealth of genealogical
information. The beginnings of this national index are now searchable on our
web site. On that site, click on the top bar where it says "DAR Library,"
and on the library's page click on GRC National Index in the left-hand
column just below the link to the library catalog. The page will open for
the index search screen. Presently, Virginia, Maryland, Oregon, and Kentucky
are largely complete, but there are about twenty other states for which
portions of their set of GRC reports. One may limit a search to a particular
state or to all states. NOT limiting a search to a state is a good idea
because so many records from eastern states ended up in the hands of DAR
members in western states and that's where the transcripts will appear, in
the typescripts for the state in which the donor/transcriber lived!

When the search results appear, there is a listing of the state, series,
volume and page number. At the present time, that is as far as the reference
will go. In the near future we plan to have every such index entry link over
to the cataloging record for the exact book in which the reference appears.
The contents notes of each book will help a researcher determine if the
index entry is indeed something of interest to their search. Eventually, we
hope to have the index entry link directly to the actual text. That,
however, is a few years down the road and will likely involve some sort of
subscription.

This GRC National Index enables researchers to tap into our materials here
in Washington and order copies of pages through the Library's Search Service
(information on that is also available in the Library portion of the DAR
website with fees and instructions). If there are questions about this index
please send them to me. This index is just the first of several in the
works, and we hope it will become a major source for researchers. Remember!
The DAR Library's collections are not in any way limited to the period of
the American Revolution. The materials buried in these reports cover all
periods in American history.

This index grows daily as new volume indexes are received from our members
performing this massive undertaking. Please let your researchers know about
it too.

Eric

Eric G. Grundset
Library Director
DAR Library
1776 D St., N.W.
Washington, DC 20006-5303
202-879-3313 (phone)
202-879-3227 (fax)


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