Genealogy
Subject Guide
Introduction
Gravestone inscriptions provide birth and death information and offer family relationship clues. The only record of an immigrant's original surname may appear on that person's headstone. However, as secondary sources, gravestone inscriptions can contain errors. Genealogical and historical societies and various individuals have transcribed and published cemetery inscriptions. The Systematic Series of Massachusetts vital records relied on information from headstones and other sources. Printed town records and histories sometimes contain epitaphs. Tombstone decorations offer insight into the deceased's economic status, occupation, religious affiliation, interests, and organizational memberships.
Selective List of Materials in the W.E.B. Du Bois Library
- Boot Hill; historic graves of the Old WestCall Number: F 591 F55
- Cemeteries of the U.S.: a guide to contact information for U.S. cemeteries and their recordsCall Number: CS 44 C46
A 1994 volume describing more than 22,600 currently operating or inactive cemeteries in the United States and its territories, and major military cemeteries in foreign countries. Provides the cemetery's address, contact information, former names, years of operation, affiliation, records location, historical notes, and references to publications concerning that cemetery. - Cemetery readings in West Virginia. Fairmont and Grant magisterial districts, Marion CountyCall Number: F 240 H57 F3
- Cities of silence: a guide to Mobile's historic cemeteriesCall Number: F 334 M6 S58 2002+
- City of Hudson burying grounds: interments, 1829-1873Call Number: F 129 H8 K43 1986+
- Early gravestone art in Georgia and South CarolinaCall Number: NB 1856 G38 C65 1986
- Elysium: a gathering of souls: New Orleans cemeteriesCall Number: F 379 N562 A2 1997+
- English churchyard memorialsCall Number: NB 1860 B8
- Harrap's guide to famous London gravesCall Number: CT 775 B34 1975
- Jugoslav cemetery records of San Francisco, 1849-1930Call Number: F 869 S39 E8+
- Lay down body: living history in African American cemeteriesCall Number: E 185.86 H84 1996
- A Lithuanian cemetery: St. Casimir Lithuanian Cemetery in Chicago, IllCall Number: NB 1856 C5 L57
- MarkersCall Number: E 159.5 M28 Volumes 6-7, 9-19
Articles in this annual scholarly journal cover all aspects of gravestone research, including gravestone art and symbolism, tombstone carvers, and cemeteries. - Permanent addresses: a guide to the resting places of famous AmericansCall Number: CT 215 A73 1983
- Pre-1855 tombstone inscriptions in BerwickshireCall Number: CS 478 B4 S3 Volumes 1-2
- They sleep beneath the mockingbird: Mississippi burial sites and biographies of Confederate generalsCall Number: E 487 J77 Volume 12
- Wayne, Greensboro and Harrison Townships, Henry County, Indiana, cemetery recordsCall Number: F 534 W33 M3
Find More
Search the Five College Catalog by Subject. Examples of subject searches:
- Cemeteries - Poland
- Cemeteries - Poland - Warsaw - Guidebooks
- Cemeteries - Yugoslavia - Split (Croatia)
- Epitaphs - France - Paris
- Jewish epitaphs - Germany - Soest
- Sepulchral monuments, Jewish - Brazil
