Lawmaking and Legislators has received excellent reviews in leading history and genealogy journals. The project's work has also been strongly endorsed by such renowned scholars as Bernard Bailyn and J.A. Leo LeMay.

"...this is a major work of biographical and historical scholarship based on exhaustive research" Bernard Bailyn, Pulitzer Prize winning historian

" It is the most fundamental and valuable on-going project in early Pennsylvania history," J.A. Leo LeMay, leading authority on Benjamin Franklin

Excerpts from reviews, Volume Three

"For students of Quakerism, volume three exhibits the fascinating variety of experiences and outcomes in the lives of the Quaker assemblymen. . . . Thus, whether one needs to find the laws for emitting paper currency in Pennsylvania, or wishes to read about intimate matters, he will find the dictionary rewarding indeed."  Jack Marietta, from Quaker History, (Spring 2007, forthcoming)

"Historians will want this volume just for Joseph S. Foster's bravura biography of Benjamin Franklin" Scott C. Steward, from the National Genealogical Society Quarterly, 94:227 (September 2006)

"Taken together, these biographies reveal the resiliency and vitality of early American culture as reflected in this Colonial legislature....a truly significant achievement" John A. Baird, Jr., from the Pennsylvania Genealogical Magazine, 44:283-85 (Spring/Summer 2006)

"This biographical dictionary is one of the most impressive to appear anywhere" David L. Greene, editor of The American Genealogist, from The American Genealogist, 81:78-79 (January 2006)

Excerpts from reviews, Volume One and Two

"This collection...is a treasure"
Jack Marietta, from Quaker History, 81:111-112 (Fall 1992)

"Scholars of early Pennsylvania and colonial America generally, will wonder how they previously pursued their research without it," Jean R. Soderlund, author of Quakers and Slavery: A Divided Spirit, from Pennsylvania History v. 59 (October 1992)

A "marvelous volume....One hopes their example will inspire still other states to undertake similar projects" Jack P. Greene, historian of colonial and Revolutionary era America, from the Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, 116:225-228 (April 1992)

"Lawmaking and Legislators represents quality work from start to finish."  John A. Baird, Jr., from the Pennsylvania Genealogical Magazine, 39:349-350 (1996)

"an indispensable tool for anyone interested in studying early American political development," Ari Hoogenboom, author of A History of Pennsylvania, from the Journal of American History, 79:1723-24 (March 1993)

"a remarkable achievement. It deserves to be widely used,"
Susan Klepp, historian of colonial and Revolutionary era Pennsylvania, from the Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, 122:293-95 (July 1998)

"For genealogists, Pennsylvania historians, and students of the colonial period, this volume adds tremendously to the literature and research tools of early Pennsylvania," Jefferson Moak, assistant archivist of the City of Philadelphia, from the Pennsylvania Genealogical Magazine, 40:168-70 (1997)

"[the essays] all feature a remarkable level of biographical information--'warts and all'" D. Brenton Simons, editorial director of the Newbury Street Press, from The New England Historical and Genealogical Register, 152:117-119 (January 1998)

"In practically every instance, the accounts in this series are the best to be published of the individuals in question....The publication of the first two volumes of this series has set a standard by which similar projects must be measured," David L. Greene, editor of The American Genealogist, from The American Genealogist, 73:319 (October 1998)