> I wanted to share a good source of otherwise unknown books that > have a wealth of information. Many years ago I discovered the > Library of American Civilization (LAC) at the local university > library. It is a series of micro books with an accompanying index > (real books - not micro books). I don't know the publishing > source, but the books seem to all be written prior to about 1900. > An example is that I obtained an old leather-bound Latin book when > my grandmother died, over 40 years ago, with the name Joseph > Stockbridge written in it. <snip> > > The bad news is that after a few years I went again to check the > LAC to find all the micro books and the indexes - but the reader > had disappeared, and there is no other machine that will suffice. > although the head librarian has spend some time trying to find the > machine. I'm afraid that it just looked like an old machine when > they updated all the other microfilm readers. > > I would be very interested in finding anyone else who has also > used this series and if a reader is still available. I would add > that there is much that may never be of use to a family > researcher, but there were books on everyday life, business, > travel logs, trade, and whatever. All of the 19th century - maybe > before although I never came across one. > > Sharon Simnacher <simnacher@3lefties.com> Sharon: After your excellent post, I started snooping around on the internet for information regarding the Library of American Civilization Collection. Evidently, other libraries have the same problem with the ultrafiche reader issue. There is at least one that has provided links to which information is available online: http://invictus.quinnipiac.edu/lac.html I found information about a similar series, Early American Imprints: Early American Imprints is similar to the Library of American Civilization (LAC), a microbook collection that contains information on American life and literature from the beginning to World War I. However, Early American Imprints require no magnification and are much easier to read due to the reformatting process. Series I. is a microfiche collection reproducing 42,000 early American publications; virtually every existent book, pamphlet, and broadside published in America from 1639 to 1800. The microfiche set includes almanacs, bibles, charters and by-laws, cookbooks, maps, printed music, novels, plays, poems, primers, sermons, speeches, treaties, travelogues, and textbooks. <Makes me want to run to the library> These are indexed: Evans, Charles. American Bibliography. Volume 14 is the alphabetical author/title index to the entries in volumes 1-13. Bristol, Roger P. Supplement to Evans American Bibliography, including its Index and the Index of Printers, Publishers and Booksellers. Shipton, Clifford Kenyon. National Index of American Imprints through 1800, the Short Title Evans There is a second series: 1801-1819. If you have ancestors in the south, you might want to look at the digitalized collection (Documenting the American South) of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. I love the diaries: http://docsouth.unc.edu/index.html Glee <gleemc@earthlink.net>