According to the 2000 census, nearly 43 million Americans—about 15 percent of respondents—claim to have German ancestry, making them the largest ethnic group in the U.S. People who are serious about exploring their German roots will find that sooner or later they need to turn to German archives, and this book was designed to help. It is one result of the German Immigrant Ancestors Project launched at Brigham Young University in 1996 to survey and catalog all the relevant public and private records in the Federal Republic of Germany. Information was collected from questionnaires sent to German archivists.

Following an introductory chapter are two chapters that describe German government and religious archives, the two most common record repositories. Each of the remaining chapters covers a German state. The state chapters are divided into sections for state, city and regional, church, and family archives, with an additional section for other archives for which a Web site was found or questionnaire was returned. Within each section, archives are organized alphabetically by the name of the city in which they are located. The listing for each archive provides contact information (including Web sites and e-mail addresses when available) and summaries of the jurisdiction of each archive; what kinds of records it contains (for example, emigration records, military records, civil registration records); and how the records are organized. More than 2,000 archives are listed. Eighteen simple line maps help pinpoint locations. The volume concludes with an index of archives (by city) and an index of localities.

Researchers will find this well-organized guide to be very helpful in sorting through the maze of German records. It belongs in all libraries holding large genealogy collections or serving an interest in German heritage.
Mary Ellen Quinn
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