The Value of Cemetery Records in Print

In the twenty-first century, helpful websites, such as Find A Grave and Billion Graves have made it easy for researchers to find records of gravestones online. Before the advent of the Internet, it was common for genealogical societies and organizations, such as the DAR to publish cemetery records in books and periodicals. These old publications can still be of great value to genealogists and provide information not available on the large cemetery websites. Such publications are usually available at public libraries in the area that have genealogical collections, or in regional or national genealogy libraries, such as the Family History Library.

Some of the ways cemetery records in print can be of value to genealogists include:
 * 1) They may contain transcripts of tombstones that are no longer legible
 * 2) Websites that require recent photographs of tombstones miss tombstones that have been vandalized or moved and are no longer physically present to photograph at a cemetery
 * 3) In some cases, cemeteries have disappeared (may have been removed for building construction, mining operations, etc.)
 * 4) Local experts involved in these projects had local knowledge to find small family cemeteries that may no longer be remembered
 * 5) They provide geographic data about which tombstones are situated near each other, which may disclose family relationships, and which data is lost on websites that alphabetize names

In short, cemetery records in print may contain tombstone transcriptions that have been lost over the years and are unavailable online.