HOW AND WHERE TO LOOK IT UP
RESOURCES FOR RESEARCHING THE HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY, WEST VIRGINIA. ©2001
William D. Theriault, Ph.D.
17434 Virginia Ave.
Hagerstown, MD 21740
WMTheriault@myactv.net
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Foreword
This work tries to give students of Jefferson County, West Virginia, history the resources needed to confront the mass of information relevant to its past. How and Where To Look It Up contains twenty-three chapters that provide an overview of primary and secondary sources available on a broad range of topics. The accompanying Bibliography on compact disc furnishes more than 6,500 annotated citations on county history. Together they comprise the most comprehensive reference guide published on Jefferson County history to date.

Despite the scope of this effort, it is incomplete. Thousands of older sources wait to be identified, perhaps by the readers of this work. New sources appear regularly, the product of more recent studies. I have temporarily suspended my information gathering efforts to publish this book and CD during Jefferson County’s bicentennial year. I hope that those inspired by the county’s 200th anniversary celebration will find it useful and will contribute to this ongoing effort.

The format I have chosen for this information reflects changing tastes and technologies. A few years ago, I would have had no choice but to print all of this work on paper, a limitation that would have made the bibliography unwieldy to use and expensive to publish. Today, compact disc and Internet publication provide new ways to access old information if you have a computer. Tomorrow, you will be able to find all of the references and texts I have laboriously collected (and more) by typing a few simple commands on your computer.

How and Where To Look It Up has been published in book format for those researchers who have not yet mastered the mysteries of the computer and for those who like the solid feel of paper in their hands as they trudge through musty archives and dusty tomes. The Bibliography has been published on compact disc for those who wish to explore this guidebook’s topics in depth and who are comfortable conducting research from their desktop.

I hope this guide will make your journey back in time a little easier. Bon Voyage!
Bill Theriault
Bakerton, West Virginia
July 4, 2001

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