New Research Series From the DAR Library

Last week The Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) released information about a new resource to aid those researching the Revolutionary War period. The DAR Library has begun publication of a new series that focuses on research in each of the original states during the Revolutionary War era. Each edition of the series will be offered as a downloadable PDF document only, not as printed volume.

The series promises to provide information about manuscripts, archival material and published historical and genealogical studies that are available for each of the original states during this time period, one volume for each state.

New York in the American Revolution: A Source Guide for Genealogists and Historians is the first publication in the series to be offered. It was compiled by DAR Library Director Eric G. Grundset and is available now as a PDF download through the DAR Store Online. The New York PDF is more than 700 pages including a table of contents, text pages, map pages, and an index to the text.

You can browse the index for the New York publication at http://www.dar.org/library/publication.cfm. The index is 14 pages long and shows that there are 18 chapters. Some of the chapters that caught my eye: Chapter 2, Major Research Centers in New York State and Elsewhere with Revolutionary War Collections. Chapter 9, New York Land Records. The largest chapter, with about 250 pages, is Chapter 15, Regions, Counties and Localities in New York State. Chapter 18 is a list of about 90 Prominent New Yorkers of the Revolutionary era. The publication ends with maps and an index.

The cost of the New York PDF is $25. Considering that the publication is more than 700 pages that seems like a reasonable price. It would be a large volume if it were in print. You do not have to be a DAR member to order the PDF publication.

The next two states in the series are scheduled to be South Carolina and Virginia. All the original state guides should be available within the next two years.

This should be a useful and valuable research aid for anyone researching during the Revolutionary era, whether you have a Revolutionary War patriot in your family or not.

I did not order this New York publication because, to my knowledge, I do not have any ancestors from New York. However, I am looking forward to the Pennsylvania and Maryland guides, where my Revolutionary War connections are.

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