Family History & Genealogy
Databases
- Ancestry Library Edition: Genealogical and historical information from census, military, church, vital, court, land and probate records, passenger lists and more. (In-library use only.)
- Fold3 Library Edition by Ancestry: Convenient access to U.S. military records, including the stories, photos, and documents of the men and women who served. Click here to access from home.
- HeritageQuest: (for direct access inside the library, click here): A comprehensive treasury of American genealogical sources—rich in unique primary sources, local and family histories, and finding aids, with coverage dating back to the 1700s. Use your PPL library card to access this database from home.
- ProQuest Historical Newspapers: U.S. Major Dailies (1849 – 2019): Search for obituaries from major newspapers. Historical full-text coverage from Chicago Tribune (1849 – 1998), Los Angeles Times (1881 – 1999), The New York Times with Index (1851 – 2019), The Wall Street Journal (1889 – 2011), and The Washington Post (1877 – 2006).
Digital Libraries
In many cases, you can search for a keyword (title or subject) to find state, county, city, town, church or family histories; directories; government documents; and biographies or autobiographies.
- American Memory (Library of Congress)
- Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers (Library of Congress)
- Digital Quaker Collection (Earlham School of Religion)
- Documenting the American South (University of North Carolina)
- Family History Archive (Brigham Young University)
- FamilySearch Record Search (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints)
United States Records - Google Books (Author or Title Search)
- Internet Text Archive
- Making of America (Cornell University)
- Making of America (University of Michigan)
- The New York Times (from 1851)
- Perry-Castaneda Map Collection: Historical Maps (University of Texas)
- Samuel J. May Anti-Slavery Collection (Cornell University)
Useful for clergy, anti-slavery activists, African Americans, local history - Their Own Words (Dickinson College)
Indexes
- Library of American Civilization Titles Available Free on the Web (Quinnipiac University)
- The Online Books Page (University of Pennsylvania)
By State or Region, A-Z
Be sure to check the state and county sites within the USGenWeb Project and the USGenWeb Archives for any county in which you are doing research. They may contain digitized material or links to it.
- Alabama
- ADAH Databases (Alabama Department of Archives & History)
- Alabama Department of Archives and History
- Alabama Maps
- Alabama Mosaic
- Archives of Wiregrass History and Culture (Troy University – Dothan Campus)
- Auburn University Digital Library Collections
- Birmingham Public Library Digital Collections
- Digital Collections (Jacksonville State University Library)
- Historic Postcards of Alabama
- University of Alabama Digital Collections
- Alaska
- Alaska, Western Canada and United States Collection (University of Washington Libraries)
- The Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition Digital Collection (Seattle Public Library)
- Alaska’s Digital Archives
- Alaska’s Gold Lode: A Database of Alaskan Primary Sources
- Digital Archives (LitSite Alaska)
- Appalachia
- Appalachian Treasures Gateway
- Archives of Appalachia (East Tennessee State University)
- Arizona
- Arizona Archives Online
- Arizona Genealogy Birth and Death Certificates
PDF images of the original certificates of birth (1855-1932) and death (1844-1957) - Arizona Memory Project
- Arizona State University Libraries Online Collections
- Arizona Cultural Inventory Project (Arizona State Library, Archives and Public Records)
- Hayden Arizona Pioneer Biographies
- Little Cowpuncher: Rural School Newspaper of Southern Arizona
- Southwest Electronic Text Center (University of Arizona Library)
- Through Our Parents’ Eyes: History & Culture of Southern Arizona
- Arkansas
- CARAT: Catalog of Arkansas Resources and Archival Treasures (Arkansas History Commission)
- Documenting Arkansas (Arkansas History Commission)
- California
- Anne T. Kent California Room (Marin County Free Library)
Digitized oral histories, photo albums, maps and more. - Calisphere (UC Libraries)
Thousands of images and primary source documents, 19th-20th centuries. - Digital Anaheim (Anaheim Public Library)
- Los Angeles Public Library Photo Collection
- Online Archive of California
- Regional Oral History Office (University of California, Berkeley)
- Sacramento History Online
- San Fernando Valley History Digital Library
- San Francisco Historical Photograph Collection (SF Public Library)
- San Joaquin Valley & Sierra Foothills Photo Heritage
- University of California History Digital Archives
Includes University of California In Memoriam.
- Anne T. Kent California Room (Marin County Free Library)
- Colorado
- Connecticut
- Florida
- Florida Digital Newspaper Library (University of Florida)
- Florida History & Heritage Collection (Florida State University Libraries)
- Florida Law (University of Florida)
- Florida Memory Project
- Florida Photograph Collections (University of Florida)
- Oral History Collections (University of Florida)
- PALMM: Publication of Archival, Library & Museum Materials
Collections range from books and periodicals to the Sanborn Fire Maps for Florida cities.
- Georgia
- Digital Library of Georgia
- Georgia Historic Books
- Georgia Historic Newspapers
- Georgia’s Virtual Vault: Digital Treasures from the Georgia Archives
Death certificates, 1919-1927; Colonial wills; Confederate soldier information and much more. - The New Georgia Encyclopedia
- Works Progress Administration (WPA) Projects in Georgia (University of Georgia Libraries)
- Great Lakes
- Illinois
- Encyclopedia of Chicago
- Genealogy Online (Cook County Clerk’s Office)
Free registration required. Indexes to Cook County births, marriages, deaths. Records may be downloaded for a fee. - Historical Maps Online
- Homicide in Chicago 1870-1930 (Northwestern University)
- Illinois Digital Archives
- Illinois Harvest (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign)
- Illinois Historical Digitization Projects
- Illinois Periodicals Online
- Illinois State Archives Databases
Textual abstracts of land, servitude & emancipation, veterans and vital records.
- Indiana
- Kansas
- Kentucky
- Louisiana
- Maine
- Maine Memory Network
- Prism: University of Maine Yearbook Online (Fogler Library, University of Maine)
- Maryland
- Massachusetts
- Michigan
- Archives of Michigan
- Digital Histories and Publications: University of Michigan (Bentley Historical Library, University of Michigan)
- The Making of Ann Arbor
- The Making of Modern Michigan
- Michigan Births, 1867-1902 (FamilySearch Record Search)
- Michigan County Histories and Atlases
- Michigan Death Records, 1897-1920 (Seeking Michigan)
- Michigan Deaths, 1867-1897 (FamilySearch Record Search)
- Michigan Marriages, 1868-1925 (FamilySearch Record Search)
- Pioneering the Upper Midwest: Books from Michigan, Minnesota, and Wisconsin, ca. 1820-1910
- Saline Area Historical Photos and Saline Valley Farms Photographs
- Ypsilanti Historical Society Photo Archives
- Minnesota
- Minnesota Birth Certificates [1900-1934] Index (Minnesota Historical Society)
- Minnesota Death Certificates [1904-2001] Index (Minnesota Historical Society)
- Minnesota State Census Index (Minnesota Historical Society)
“… includes Minnesota State Census records from 1849, 1850, 1853, 1855, 1857, 1865, 1875, 1885, 1895 and 1905. “ - Minnesota Veterans Graves Registration Index (Minnesota Historical Society)
- Pioneering the Upper Midwest: Books from Michigan, Minnesota, and Wisconsin, ca. 1820-1910
- Mississippi
- Civil Rights in Mississippi Digital Archive (The University of Southern Mississippi Libaries)
- Missouri
- Historic Missouri Newspaper Project
- Missouri Digital Heritage Initiative
- Missouri State Archives: Online Collections
Some records (Birth & Death Records Database) are textual abstracts; others (Missouri Death Certificate Database) contain imaged records. - Missouri Valley Special Collections (The Kansas City Public Library)
- Missouriana Digital Text Collection
- New England
- New Jersey
- Digital Library (Princeton Theological Seminary)
- New Jersey Digital Collections (New Jersey State Library)
- New Jersey State Archives: Imaged Collections and Searchable Databases
- Papers of Princeton
- Princeton Alumni Weekly Archives Online
- Princeton Alumni Weekly Memorial Index, 1894-2008 (Seeley G. Mudd Manuscript Library)
- The Rutgers Oral History Archives
The personal experiences of men and women who served on the home front and overseas in WW II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War and the Cold War. - Seeley G. Mudd Library – Databases (Princeton University)
- West Jersey History Project
- New York
- Brooklyn Daily Eagle Online, 1841-1902
- Buffalo Full Text (BuffaloResearch.com)
- The Digital Collections of Hamilton College Library
The 117th New York Infantry Regiment; Civil War letters - New York State Historical Literature (Cornell University)
- North Country Digital History
- The Oneida Community Collection in the Syracuse University Library
- New York State Archives
- Three Rivers, Hudson~Mohawk~Schoharie: History from America’s Most Famous Valleys ( Site Map )
- North Carolina
- Northwest
- American Indians of the Pacific Northwest (University of Washington Libraries)
- Center for Columbia River History
- Columbia River Basin Ethnic History Archive
- Scandinavian Immigrant Experience Collection (Pacific Lutheran University)
- Ohio
- The African American Experience in Ohio, 1850-1920
- The Cleveland Memory Project
- The Digital Shoebox Project: Historical Treasures of Southeastern Ohio
- Early Ohio History Digital Collection
- The Mid-Ohio Library Digital Initiative: Projects
- Ohio History Central Online Encyclopedia
- Ohio Memory: An Online Scrapbook of Ohio History
- Photohio.org
- Resources (The Ohio Historical Society) includes online primary sources and research tools
- Ohio River Valley
- Oregon
- Salem Online History (Salem Public Library)
- Pennsylvania
- Archives Records Information Access System (Pennsylvania State Archives)
- Chronicles: The Annals of Dickinson College
- Digital Collections of Maps (Penn State U. Libraries)
- Digital Collections of Newspapers (Penn State U. Libraries)
- Historic Pittsburgh
- Historical Digital Collegian Archive, 1887-1955 (Penn State)
- La Vie Online, 1890-2000: Penn State’s Yearbook (Penn State U. Libraries)
- Lincoln University Archives Digital Projects
- PA’s Past: Digital Bookshelf at Penn State
- Penn in the Age of Franklin, 1740-1790
- Pennsylvania Archives (Footnote)
A free resource at this subscription site - Pennsylvania Civil War Newspapers
- Pennsylvania County Histories and Pennsylvania Biographies (USGenWeb Archives, Pennsylvania)
- Pennsylvania History: A Journal of Mid-Atlantic Studies
- The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography
- PhillyHistory.org
- The Valley of the Shadow
- Western Pennsylvania History
- South Carolina
- Digital Traditions
- Garnet & Black Yearbooks (University of South Carolina Libraries)
- Historical Records (Greenville County Government Online)
- Lexington County Probate Court Indexes
- Newspaper Obituary Index…Beaufort, Hampton and Jasper Counties (Beaufort County Library)
-
On-Line Records Index (South Carolina Dept. of Archives & History)
- South Carolina Death Indexes, 1915-1958 (South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control)
Requires DjVu Image Viewer plug-in. - South Carolina Deaths, 1915-1943 (FamilySearch Record Search)
Searchable database includes images of the death records. - South Carolina Deaths, 1944-1955 (FamilySearch Record Search)
Name index of death records; no images. - South Carolina Digital Library
- Southeast
- Tennessee
- Texas
- Utah
- Sanborn® Fire Insurance Maps [Utah]
- Utah Digital Newspapers
- Utah State Archives Index Search
Death certificates, 1905-1954, have been digitized.
- Virginia
- The Library of Virginia, Multi-Catalog Search
Note that the Archives and Manuscripts Catalog contains 6,000 family Bible records available online. - Oral Histories in the Perry Library (Old Dominion University)
- The Valley of the Shadow
- Virtual Jamestown
- The Library of Virginia, Multi-Catalog Search
- Washington
- Digital Collections (Central Washington University, Brooks Library)
- Digital Collections (Everett Public Library)
- Digital Collections (Washington State University Libraries)
- Early Washington Maps: A Digital Collection
- Tacoma Past & Present (Tacoma Public Library)
- University of Washington Libraries Digital Collections
- Yakima Memory
- The West
- West Virginia
- The Allegheny Regional Family History Society
- Hacker’s Creek Pioneer Descendants
- Marshall University Libraries: Digital Collections and Virtual Museum
- Online Exhibits (West Virginia Division of Culture and History)
- Vital Records Research Project (West Virginia Division of Culture and History)
Images of birth, death & marriage records - West Virginia and Regional History Collection (West Virginia University Libraries)
- The Wheeling Area Genealogical Society
- Wisconsin
- Dictionary of Wisconsin History
- Digital Collections (University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee Libraries)
- Online Collections at the Wisconsin Historical Society
Not included on this page is the Wisconsin Genealogy Index. - Pioneering the Upper Midwest: Books from Michigan, Minnesota, and Wisconsin, ca. 1820-1910
- The State of Wisconsin Collection
- University of Wisconsin Digital Collections
- Wisconsin Electronic Reader
- Wisconsin Local History and Biography Articles (Wisconsin Historical Society)
- Wisconsin Pioneer Experience
- Wisconsin Public Land Survey Records
Original field notes and plat maps.
- Wyoming
Other Resources
- African American Women Writers of the 19th Century (New York Public Library)
52 works, including history, biography and autobiography - American Friend Obituary Index (Earlham College Libraries)
- American Journeys
Eyewitness accounts of early American exploration and settlement. - Bibliographies Produced by the Digital Reference Team of the Library of Congress
- Books Online (American History & Genealogy Project)
- The Cherokee Phoenix (Hunter Library, Western Carolina University)
- Freedom’s Journal
All 103 issues (1827-1829) of the first newspaper owned and operated by African Americans, digitized by the Wisconsin Historical Society. PDF format; requires Acrobat Reader. - Google News Archive Search
Retrieves digitized newspaper articles, which may require payment for access. - Historical Maps Online
- Immigration to the United States, 1789-1930 (Harvard University Library)
- Nationwide Gravesite Locator (U.S. Dept. of Veterans Affairs)
- The North American Indian (Edward S. Curtis; 1907-1930)
Northwestern University offers the entire 20-volume work and photogravure images. The Library of Congress also offers the photographic images. - NYPL Digital Gallery (New York Public Library)
- Online Resources (Mystic Seaport Libraries)
Includes digitized ship registers, crew list indexes, Connecticut ship database, Seamen’s Protection Certificates register database, periodical indexes, etc. - Polish Declarations of Admiration and Friendship for the United States (Library of Congress)
- Prints and Photographs Online Catalog (Library of Congress)
- The Silent Worker
The issues from 1888 to 1929 of the national newspaper popular among the deaf population of the U.S. - The Stars and Stripes: The American Soldiers’ Newspaper of World War I, 1918-1919
- United States Military Academy Digital Collections
- Veterans History Project (Library of Congress)
- Women Working, 1800 – 1930 (Harvard University Library)
- The WWI Document Archive
Last reviewed: April 23, 2013