This guide was prepared by the Library of Congress for the many people who visit the Library of Congress' Local History and Genealogy Room to research family roots in England, Ireland, Scotland, or Wales. While this guide has been prepared primarily as an aid to researching genealogy and local history at the Library of Congress, it will also be useful for those searching these subjects in other large libraries. The overall arrangement of this guide is by subject. Although the contents for each country vary somewhat, the following basic subjects will be found for each: Handbooks, providing assistance for beginning research; Pedigrees and Family Histories, high-lighting published genealogies; Bibliographies, listing sources for further research; Local History, detailing a myriad of references to information about places; Biographical Information, citing personal and professional details about ancestors in all disciplines; Maps, Atlases, Gazetteers, showing the location and giving an account of the historical development of areas; Names, Geographical, defining the origin and history of places; Names, Personal, discussing the origins and locations of family names; and Periodicals, identifying major journals and magazines on the subject. Supplementing these are unique subject headings for individual countries, such as Clans and Tartans for Scotland. The contents are supplemented by the Author and Title Index.
