Updated Our Quaker Ancestors Brings Records Closer to the Researcher

Many persons living today have Quaker ancestors—even though these descendants are not themselves members of the Society of Friends. Quaker records are voluminous, but, owing to the structure and concerns of the Society, they require prior explanation. And this is precisely what Our Quaker Ancestors: Finding Them in Quaker Records, by the late Ellen and Thomas Berry, has done since its initial publication in 1987. This handy guidebook describes the types of Quaker records that are available, the locations of the records, and the proper use of those records.

Now available in a new second edition edited by Jana Broglin, Our Quaker Ancestors is better than ever because it has incorporated the changes in Quaker research during the ensuing years. Chief among them are the digitization of records and the advent of the Internet that have made Quaker resources far more widely available. For example, many Quaker organizations have a current website that lists their holdings and contact information.

Here are the descriptions of the collections at Guilford College in Greensboro, North Carolina; and Malone College, in Canton, Ohio,  that appear on pp. 78-79 of Our Quaker Ancestors.