Encyclopedia
Of German-American Genealogical Research by Clifford
Neal Smith & Anna Piszczan-Czaja Smith
The primary purpose of this Encyclopedia is to survey the material available to the genealogist seeking to link American lineages with their origins in German-speaking Europe. The writers hope this Encyclopedia will serve as an inventory of both the known and the unknown and a spur to the fashioning of new research tools. A further purpose of the Encyclopedia is to provide American researchers with background material on German customs, sociological stratification, governmental organization, and ethnographic considerations having a bearing upon immigrant ancestors.
The Encyclopedia presents "background" information selected for its relevance to the circumstances and motivations of emigration and the cultural baggage the immigrants brought with them to America.