Who uses "skeeter hawk," "snake doctor," and "dragonfly" to refer to the same insect? Who says "gum band" instead of "rubber band"? The answers can be found in the Linguistic Atlas of the Middle and South Atlantic States (LAMSAS), the largest single survey of regional and social differences in spoken American English. It covers the region from New York state to northern Florida and from the coastline to the borders of Ohio and Kentucky. Through interviews with nearly twelve hundred people conducted during the 1930s and 1940s, the LAMSAS mapped regional variations in vocabulary, grammar, and pronunciation at a time when population movements were more limited than they are today, thus providing a unique look at the correspondence of language and settlement patterns. This handbook is an essential guide to the LAMSAS project, laying out its history and describing its scope and methodology. In addition, the handbook reveals biographical information about the informants and social histories of the communities in which they lived, including primary settlement areas of the original colonies. Dialectologists will rely on it for understanding the LAMSAS, and historians will find it valuable for its original historical research. Since much of the LAMSAS questionnaire concerns rural terms, the data collected from the interviews can pinpoint such language differences as those between areas of plantation and small-farm agriculture. For example, LAMSAS reveals that two waves of settlement through the Appalachians created two distinct speech types. Settlers coming into Georgia and other parts of the Upper South through the Shenandoah Valley and on to the western side of the mountain range had a Pennsylvania-influenced dialect, and were typically small farmers. Those who settled the Deep South in the rich lowlands and plateaus tended to be plantation farmers from Virginia and the Carolinas who retained the vocabulary and speech patterns of coastal areas. With these revealing findings, the LAMSAS represents a benchmark study of the English language, and this handbook is an indispensable guide to its riches.

The one book every genealogist must have! Whether you're just getting started in genealogy or you're a research veteran, The Family Tree Sourcebook provides you with the information you need to trace your roots across the United States, including: • Research summaries, tips and techniques, with maps for every U.S. state • Detailed county-level data, essential for unlocking the wealth of records hidden in the county courthouse • Websites and contact information for libraries, archives, and genealogical and historical societies • Bibliographies for each state to help you further your research You'll love having this trove of information to guide you to the family history treasures in state and county repositories. It's all at your fingertips in an easy-to-use format–and it's from the trusted experts at Family Tree Magazine!

The Second Atlas of Breeding Birds in West Virginia is the most comprehensive description of bird life in the Mountain State ever published. Building on the first Atlas, published in 1994, this book documents the occurrence of 170 species of breeding birds, including three new species and one whose last breeding record was in 1888. Compiled from the efforts of almost two hundred volunteers, who worked from 2009 to 2014 to amass more than one hundred thousand records and conduct point-count surveys, the Atlas presents detailed information about each species and two hybrids. Species accounts are accompanied by maps that show breeding evidence, as well as estimates of occurrence, change in occurrence, and population density. The volume covers state geography, climate, and changing habitats. It includes both a discussion of conservation concerns important to the state's breeding birds and a history of state ornithology and changes in West Virginia's avifauna drawn from observations and research from the nineteenth through the twenty-first century. Featuring up-to-date information about 170 bird species and hundreds of beautiful color photographs--nearly all of which are identified by county locations--The Second Atlas of Breeding Birds in West Virginia is an indispensable resource for researchers, conservationists, and birders.

DeLorme's Atlas and Gazetteer Series is America's most popular line of recreational maps! Each atlas covers an individual state in its entirety with detailed, full-color topographic maps. Detail includes back roads, hidden lakes, boat ramps, hiking trails, campgrounds, public lands, forests, wetlands and more. And, the Gazetteer sections feature page after page of information on places to go and things to do. These atlases are year-round favorites with outdoors enthusiasts and anyone who likes to leave the main roads behind.