Frank Smith, noted genealogist and co-author of Genealogical Research in England and Wales (commonly called Smith and Gardner), had a dream. His dream was a supplement to the Family History Library Catalog that would help people find things that are in the Family History Library, but not in the catalog. This supplement would be a catalog of the contents of periodicals, serials, and collections where the title of the collection or magazine appeared in the catalog, but not the individual articles within the magazine nor the records within the collection.

When a useful article on how to locate and use settlement records in the seventeenth century is published in a magazine in the FHL collection, the name of the magazine appears in the catalog, but there is no indication of the article, no entry under AChurch Records-Poor Law, Poorhouses, etc.@ The same applies for a parish register extract, a listing of monumental inscriptions in a cemetery, or an index to the 1841 census that is published in a periodical. The individual items within a magazine do not appear in the catalog--only the title of the magazine.

The same applies to thousands of useful pedigrees found in various serials and collections. While it may be useful to know that the FHL has Genealogica Miscellanea et Heraldica, how does one know that it contains a pedigree of the Waters family of Upton, Berkshire?

Frank Smith=s dream was to have an index to the articles and pedigrees published in every serial, collection, or periodical in the Library. Thanks to Frank and dozens of volunteers who labored daily for a period of many years, his dream is now a reality (at least for the FHL British collection up to 1989). Published shortly after his death, FHL staff chose to name the work in his honor.

Smith=s Inventory of Genealogical Sources is a 123 volume work, with 41 volumes for England, 34 each for Scotland and Ireland, and 14 for Wales. The microfiche numbers are:

6110526 England 96 fiche 6110527 Ireland 18 fiche

6110528 Scotland 18 fiche 6110529 Wales 14 fiche

Now, you can look up Smith=s Inventory and find where that family pedigree was published (and what the FHL call number is), be referred to useful articles on the topic of interest, or find that the cemetery, census, militia list, or parish register for your parish has been extracted and published in a periodical.

A complete introduction, explanation, and list of subjects is contained in the Vol. 1, part 1 (England-General) section. The following is the first three pages from that Introduction (shown on two pages).

The Family History Library has a vast collection of books, microfilms, and microfiche covering a variety of subjects. The Family History Library Catalog (FHLC) on microfiche and on CD-Rom gives only a brief general description of what you can find within the books, microfilms and microfiche. Much useful information lies hidden within the records.

Volunteers have spent many years examining books, microfilms and microfiche in the library's collection, to categorize material under a group of predetermined subject headings. The List of Subjects (page 11) shows those used in this project. Records mentioned in a few guides to county record offices and large library collections are also included.

The inventory provides a locator for items within printed and unpublished material. For example, there are many historical society publications, serials, and periodicals that deal with a variety of subjects. The FHLC lists only the names and volume numbers of these publications, but gives no detail as to their contents. The inventory is designed to bring to light some of the valuable articles hidden within these sources which are not well known to the amateur genealogist. The intent is that a future computer catalog will include all these newly-discovered items.

An attempt was made to keep the inventory from becoming a repeat of the FHLC, but many subjects needed a simpler listing than those appearing in the catalog, since the cataloging system does not always allow for a subject to be listed under its well-known and commonly-used genealogical term .

When the ancestor being sought is not found in major sources (civil registration, census returns, church records, probate records, and the usual indexes), consider using this Inventory.

Wise use of the Inventory can save many hours in research efforts, and draw attention to possible research material that would otherwise be overlooked. It begins with a subject listing, arranged alphabetically. Thus, "Accounts Various" is at the beginning and "Wills, etc., (Abstracts and Information About)" is at the end.

The subject listing is followed by a range of years listing. Subjects are again repeated for which a range of years is known or given. The years from 1900 back to 1500 are divided into 50-year periods. From 1500 to Saxon times (1066), the increments are in 100-year periods.

Any subject covering more than the block of years shown is repeated in other appropriate blocks. This arrangement allows the user, having defined the period of years in which a specific research problem lies, to concentrate on what is available in the Inventory for that time period.

Those subject items for which there is no stated period of years are listed by subject immediately following those divided by range of years.

Thus, the sequence of each inventory is:

1. by subject

2. by range of years

3. by other references (those without a range of years)

The Inventory is arranged by county listing, where possible. Those items not relating to a particular county are in the general listing.

Thus, when working in a given county, you will need to consider inventories for adjoining counties, as well as the England general section. On all research problems, consider searching the Inventory for London since country-wide records are housed in repositories there.

In each section, choose the subject headings you think may be helpful. Another way to approach the problem is to check the "range of years" for the sources pertinent to the problem you are working on. Note any items likely to be of interest, and look at them.

The above page is a sample of the information you can find in the Inventory. The "title" at the top states the type of index, in this case, REFERENCES BY SUBJECT: PASSENGER LISTS. The date at the top of the page is the date the page was printed, not the date it was updated.