Cemeteries of the U.S.: A Guide to Contact Information for U.S. Cemeteries and Their Records

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All of the usual Gale features appear in this directory: numbered entries keyed to a master index, special indexes (in this case cemeteries' religious and other affiliations), and appendixes of useful information (government offices regulating cemeteries and contact information). Entries are brief but clearly presented.

There are entries for over 22,000 currently operating and inactive cemeteries in the U.S., arranged by state and county, and a brief list of overseas cemeteries where large numbers of U.S. servicemen are buried. The entries list address, including separate mailing addresses, contacts, hours of operation, affiliation, and dates of service. For a few famous cemeteries, publications about them are listed. Information was collected through questionnaires and telephone calls, supplemented by contacts with state and local governments and genealogical researchers.

The list, while large, is far from complete. In the reviewer's home county at least two active cemeteries are not listed, nor are several inactive ones. A municipal cemetery in another county is not included. Part of this is a function of the method of gathering data. That may also explain why some listings are just addresses and why the distinction between active and inactive cemeteries is not always clear. Some listings do have a bracketed inactive after their names, but it is not easy to tell if those are the only inactive ones. The inclusion of the nearest public library with a substantial genealogy collectionusually the county or town librarywould have been a useful supplement. Many have cemetery records (especially of inactive or private cemeteries) compiled by local amateurs that could be of great service to visiting genealogists.

Cemeteries of the U.S. is useful as far as it goes, but it does not go far enough. At its price, it will be an optional purchase for all but the best-funded genealogy collections. The editor actively solicits information and suggestions for future editions in her introduction. If the list of cemeteries is expanded, the active or inactive status clarified, and library genealogy collections indicated, the second edition of this work will be a much more useful genealogy reference tool.

This work lists more than 22,600 cemeteries in all 50 states, Guam, Puerto Rico, and 11 foreign countries where U.S. citizens are interred in major military cemeteries. The main section features numbered entries arranged in descending order by state, county, and cemetery name. Individual entries may contain location/address, phone/ FAX numbers, years of operation, affiliation and other available contacts, and historic, archival, and/or architectural information. Other sections include a directory of state government regulatory offices and cemetery districts, contact information for publishers and organizations listed in the bibliographic citations, an affiliations index, and a master index by cemetery name. This publication dwarfs John and Diane Stemmons's much more limited Cemetery Record Compendium (Everton, 1979), which is only an index to other published sources for American cemeteries. However, the Compendium does include references to many smaller cemeteries from the 17th to 19th centuries omitted by Burek's team. For more extensive information about military cemeteries abroad, readers should still consult American Battle Monuments, edited by Elizabeth Nishiura (Omnigraphics, 1989), which is arranged by war with subdivision by country. The present work is essential for libraries assisting patrons with genealogical research.
Edward K. Werner, St. Lucie Cty. Lib. System, Ft. Pierce, Fla.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.