Anyone who has been involved in genealogy very long has used The Handy Book for Genealogists (Everton Publishers, Inc., Logan, Utah). You will find this on the Ready Reference shelf at Clayton, near the census books; the call number is GEN 973 E93 8th EDITION. Did you know, however, there is a very good companion book on the same shelf?
The companion book is Map Guide to the U.S. Federal Censuses, 1790-1920, by William Thorndale and William Dollarhide (Baltimore, 1987). Although the volume is known as “Dollarhide’s Map Book,” the spine has Thorndale’s name on it. The call number is GEN 911.73 T498 USA.
You will find information in The Map Guide that is not found in The Handy Book. The Map Guide shows county outline maps at ten-year intervals. Since the work uses data derived from state and territorial laws defining the county lines, the maps are very accurate. An excellent bibliography is included that describes, state-by-state, the sources used for the work. Also included is a very handy index that lists each county—both current and defunct—and provides a locality code that can be used to find the county on the state maps.
Certain facts are included in The Map Guide you will not find in The Handy Book. For example, did you know the U.S. Bureau of the Census is a twentieth-century creation? It did not become a permanent government bureau until 1902. The first six U.S. censuses were overseen by federal marshals, all of whom were political appointees. The last census conducted in this manner (1870) is considered to be one of the worst ever!
Although many people start their census research by going directly to the soundex or population schedules, consulting The Map Guide could be a time saver. If you have a place name for a family in which you are interested, you may be able to use The Map Guide to directly identify the census enumeration district. This can be a big help if you are dealing with one of the states for which there is no soundex.