The goal, rather, has been to list works through which a more complete bibliography can be reached. In many cases, however, the paucity of available materials is reflected in a lean bibliography that may in fact include all of the published sources on a given topic. The editors in general have not listed localized primary sources, even when they were used. To include, for instance, such items as deed records of a given county would have enlarged the bibliography needlessly with items not available to most readers. On the other hand, the New Handbook frequently cites primary collections of papers or manuscripts when they are accessible in archives.
Many articles lack bibliographies.
When a work is cited in the text of an article, the editors as a rule do not cite it again at the end. In biographies, works of the subjects are not listed in the bibliographies unless they are autobiographical. To list such sources in a published bibliography would constitute a purposeless waste of space. Every entry in the New Handbook , however, is represented by a file in the offices of the Texas State Historical Association, where the whole bibliographical story behind the article is available.