Dartmouth College Library
Collection Management & Development Program
Collection Development Policy
GENEALOGY
- COLLECTION AREA
- GENERAL PURPOSE
- DARTMOUTH COLLEGE PROGRAM
- GENERAL SUBJECT BOUNDARIES
- LANGUAGES
- GEOGRAPHIC AREAS
- TYPES OF MATERIALS COLLECTED
- FORMAT OF MATERIALS COLLECTED
- SPECIAL COLLECTIONS AND MANUSCRIPTS
- OTHER RESOURCES AVAILABLE
- CREATION DATE
- REVISION DATE
- LC CLASS
- BIBLIOGRAPHER
- COLLECTING INTENSITY CHART is located on a separate page.
Genealogy
Historically, monographs and serials that specifically pertain to genealogy have been collected to supplement other collections especially those in the field of history. Monies for these materials came primarily from the history budget or from the general fund. In 1986, due to an increased demand for genealogy resources from users within the Dartmouth College community and particularly from outside users and because of the plethora of genealogical publications being published, a bibliographer, who specializes in genealogy, was requested to oversee the collection; a fund [GENE] was established to provide monies for these materials, and a collection development policy statement was created to help answer queries concerning the acquisition and management of genealogical materials.
The genealogy fund is used primarily to purchase materials in the field of genealogy as outlined in the Library of Congress classification CS. However, because of the multifarious nature of genealogical resources, many of these acquisitions class in other areas within the library system. Also, many primary and secondary resources that contain genealogical information are acquired regularly by other bibliographers, but these are purchased primarily for the purpose of supplementing collections in other disciplines especially in the field of history and most specifically in the history of Hanover, New Hampshire and the surrounding Connecticut River Valley towns. [See the policy statements for History and for Archives: Dartmouth College History].
While the genealogy collection supplements resources that support, first and foremost, the research needs and interests of students and faculty, there is no doubt that the heaviest users are amateur genealogists/family historians from within and beyond the Dartmouth College community. It is important to emphasize, however, that the collecting efforts are aimed at the Dartmouth community, and there is no attempt to meet the very specialized research needs of the amateur or professional genealogist/family historian.
Dartmouth College does not offer any courses in genealogy. The collection is used sporadically by students and faculty from the departments of Anthropology, English, History, Medicine, Native American Studies, and Sociology. Employees of Dartmouth College and an occasional student, who are amateur genealogists/family historians, use the collection extensively.
The Library of Congress classification for genealogy is CS. Here are found genealogical lists, family histories, and information on personal and family names. Closely linked to this category are the following classifications: CD 1000-4000 [guides to archival records], CR [heraldry], CT [biography] and Z 5301-5319 [bibliographies of biography, genealogy, heraldry]. A major collection of genealogical resources is found in the old Dartmouth classifications B and BX. Genealogical information on ethnic groups and primary historical records [vital records, diaries, military lists, court records, parish registers, for example], which contain valuable genealogical information, are found in the classifications D, E, F and the old Dartmouth H. Studies of past family life and kinship are generally located in the HQ and G classes. Genealogical resources relating to Hanover, New Hampshire and the surrounding towns are housed, for the most part, in Special Collections. A variety of large microform collections [notably the U.S. Bureau of Census decennial census schedules for New Hampshire and Vermont] are located in the Jones Microtext Center.
English is the primary language of the collections. Secondary works in western European languages are purchased selectively.
No geographical area is excluded. Emphasis is given to the local area that includes Hanover, New Hampshire and the surrounding Connecticut River Valley communities.
Monographs, which include general works, genealogical lists, standard reference works, and bibliographies, are selectively collected. Genealogical periodicals by definition are not generally collected.
Published and unpublished genealogies of families from Hanover, New Hampshire and from the surrounding Connecticut River Valley towns are collected. Family histories/genealogies are very selectively collected for other areas with emphasis given to families from the rest of New Hampshire and from Vermont. Family histories of Dartmouth College graduates are judiciously collected.
Other types of materials that contain genealogical information include manuscripts, maps, and microform collections [i.e., the Federal census schedules for New Hampshire and Vermont].
Materials are acquired in microform as well as paper copy.
In addition to a wide variety of manuscripts that contain family genealogies, Special Collections houses the Genealogical Papers of Professor Gilman Frost, Dartmouth class of 1886 and avid genealogist who collected genealogical data for all Hanover families from its founding to the early twentieth-century; the papers of Vernon Hood, historian of Plainfield, New Hampshire, which contain extensive genealogies of Plainfield and Cornish families; and the notebooks on the Dartmouth College cemetery collected by Arthur Chivers. Special Collections is also coordinating a project with the college's Records Management Office to compile a computer database of all employees and faculty of Dartmouth dating back to its beginning in 1769.
Library users, especially genealogists/family historians, are referred to other institutions where more specialized genealogical resources are available. These include the New England Historic Genealogical Society in Boston, the historical societies of New Hampshire and Vermont, local genealogical and historical societies, town offices and libraries, and the New Hampshire and Vermont Family History Centers of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints [Mormon Church].
October 1986
February 1994 [Robert D. Jaccaud]
CS
John Cocklin
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Last updated January 28, 1999 by: CMDC@Dartmouth.Edu (mjs)