Genealogy

America’s Obituaries

Full-text, searchable obituaries from the nation's newspapers, via NewsBank.

Ancestry Library

Genealogical and historical information from census, military, church, vital, court, land and probate records, passenger lists and more.

HeritageQuest

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 PCL library card to access this database from home.

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.

• Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers (Library of Congress)
• Digital Collections (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)
• Making of America Collection  (Cornell University)
• Making of America (University of Michigan)
• National Archives (The U.S. National Archives and Records Administration)
• Perry-Castañeda Map Collection (University of Texas at Austin)
• Samuel J. May Anti-Slavery Collection (Cornell University)

• African American Women Writers of the 19th Century (New York Public Library)
• American Friend Obituary Index (Earlham College)
• American Journeys (Wisconsin Historical Society)
• The Cherokee Phoenix (Western Carolina University)
• Enslaved.org (Matrix the Center for Digital Humanities and Social Sciences)
• Family History Forms (Midwest Genealogy Center)
• Freedom's Journal (Wisconsin Historical Society)
• Immigration to the United States, 1789-1930 (Harvard University)
• Mystic Seaport Museum Collections & Research
• Nationwide Gravesite Locator (U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs)
• New York Public Library Digital Collections
• The North American Indian  (Northwestern University)
• Polish Declarations of Admiration and Friendship for the United States (Library of Congress)
• Prints & Photographs Online Catalog (Library of Congress)
• The Silent Worker (Gallaudet University)
• Stars and Stripes: The American Soldiers' Newspaper of World War I (Library of Congress)
• United States Military Academy Library Digital Collections
• Veterans History Project (Library of Congress)
• Women Working, 1800 - 1930 (Harvard University)

Alabama

• Alabama Department of Archives and History
• Alabama Maps (University of Alabama)
• Alabama Mosaic (Network of Alabama Academic Libraries)
• Auburn University Digital Library
• Birmingham Public Library Digital Collections
• Houston Cole Library Digital Collections (Jacksonville State University)
• University of Alabama Digital Exhibitions
• The Wiregrass Archives (Troy University - Dothan)

Alaska

• Alaska, Western Canada and United States Collection (University of Washington)
• The Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition Digital Collection (Seattle Public Library)
• Alaska's Digital Archives (University of Alaska)
• Juneau-Douglas History (Juneau-Douglas City Museum)

Appalachia

• Archives of Appalachia (East Tennessee State University)

Arizona

• Arizona Genealogy Birth and Death Certificates (Arizona Department of Health Services)
• Arizona Memory Project (Arizona State Library)
• Arizona State University Archives and Special Collections
• Hayden Arizona Pioneer Biographies Collection (Arizona State University)
• Little Cowpuncher: Rural School Newspaper of Southern Arizona (University of Arizona)
• Through Our Parents' Eyes: History & Culture of Southern Arizona (University of Arizona)

Arkansas

• Arkansas State Archives 

California

• Anne T. Kent California Room (Marin County Free Library)
• The Bancroft Library Digital Collections (University of California - Berkeley)
• Calisphere (University of California)
• Digital Anaheim (Anaheim Public Library)
• Los Angeles Public Library Digital Collections
• Online Archive of California (California Digital Library)
• Oral History Center (University of California - Berkeley)
• Sacramento History Online (Center for Sacramento History)
• San Fernando Valley History Digital Library (California State University)
• San Francisco Historical Photograph Collection (San Francisco Public Library)
• San Joaquin Valley & Sierra Foothills Photo Heritage (San Joaquin Valley Library System)

Colorado

• Colorado Historic Newspapers Collection (Colorado State Library)

Connecticut

• Connecticut Archives: 1629-1820 (Connecticut State Library)
• Connecticut State Library Digital Collections

Florida

• Florida Digital Newspaper Library (University of Florida)
• Florida History & Heritage Collections (University of Florida)
• Florida Memory Project (State Library & Archives of Florida)
• PALMM: Publication of Archival, Library & Museum Materials (State University System of Florida)
• University of Florida Digital Collections 

Georgia

• Digital Library of Georgia
• Georgia Archives Virtual Vault (University System of Georgia)
• New Georgia Encyclopedia (Georgia Humanities)
• Works Progress Administration (WPA) Projects in Georgia (University of Georgia)

Great Lakes

• Great Lakes Maritime History Project (University of Wisconsin - Madison)

Illinois

• Encyclopedia of Chicago (Chicago Historical Society)
• Cook County Genealogy Online (Cook County Clerk's Office)
• Historical Maps Online (University of Illinois)
• Homicide in Chicago 1870-1930 (Northwestern University)
• Illinois Digital Archives (Illinois State Library)
• Illinois Periodicals Online (Illinois State Library)
• Illinois State Archives Databases (Office of the Illinois Secretary of State)

Indiana

• Ball State University Digital Media Repository
• Indiana Historical Society Digital Image Collection

Kentucky

• Kentucky Digital Library (University of Kentucky)

Louisiana

• Louisiana Digital Library

Maine

• Maine Memory Network (Maine Historical Society)
• Prism: University of Maine Yearbook (University of Maine)

Maryland

• Archives of Maryland Online (Maryland State Archives)
• Digital Maryland (Maryland State Library)

Massachusetts

• Boston Streets: Mapping Directory Data (The Bostonian Society)
• Massachusetts Soldiers and Sailors of the Revolutionary War (Ancestry)

Michigan

• Digital Histories and Publications: University of Michigan (University of Michigan)
• The Making of Ann Arbor (Ann Arbor District Library)
• The Making of Modern Michigan (Michigan State University)
• Michigan Family History (Library of Michigan)
• Pioneering the Upper Midwest: Books from Michigan, Minnesota, and Wisconsin (Library of Congress)
• Saline Area Historical Photos (University of Michigan)
• Ypsilanti Historical Society Photo Archives (University of Michigan)

Minnesota

• Minnesota Historical Society
• Pioneering the Upper Midwest: Books from Michigan, Minnesota, and Wisconsin (Library of Congress)

Mississippi

• The University of Southern Mississippi Complete Archive

Missouri

• Missouri Digital Heritage Initiative (Missouri State Library)
• Missouri Digital Newspaper Project (The State Historical Society of Missouri)
• Missouri State Research Room (Missouri State Records & Archives)
• Missouri Valley Special Collections (The Kansas City Public Library)
• Missouriana Digital Text Collection (University of Missouri)

New England

• The Cartographic Creation of New England (University of Southern Maine)

New Jersey

• New Jersey Genealogy and Local History (New Jersey State Library)
• New Jersey State Archives - Imaged Collections 
• Princeton Alumni Weekly (Princeton University)
• Princeton Alumni Weekly Memorial Index, 1894-2011 (Princeton University)
• Princeton Theological Seminary Digital Collections
• Rutgers Oral History Archives (Rutgers University)
• Seeley G. Mudd Manuscript Library (Princeton University)

New York

• Brooklyn Newsstand (Brooklyn Public Library)
• Digital Collections of Hamilton College Library
• Oneida Community Collection (Syracuse University)
• New York State Archives (New York State Education Department)

North Carolina

• Davidson College Archives & Special Collections
• Eastern North Carolina Digital Library (East Carolina University)
• The Louis Round Wilson Library Special Collections (University of North Carolina)
• North Carolina ECHO, Exploring Cultural Heritage Online (State Library of North Carolina)
• State Archives of North Carolina

Northwest

• American Indians of the Pacific Northwest Collection (University of Washington)
• Center for Columbia River History (Northwest Power and Conservation Council)
• Columbia River Basin Ethnic History Archive (Washington State University - Vancouver)
• Scandinavian Immigrant Experience Collection (Pacific Lutheran University)

Ohio

• The Cleveland Memory Project (Cleveland State University)
• Ohio Digital Collections (Columbus Metropolitan Library)
• Ohio History Connection
• Ohio Memory (Ohio History Connection/State Library of Ohio)
• PhotOhio (Central Library Consortium)

Oregon

• Salem Online History (Salem Public Library)

Pennsylvania

• Archives & Special Collections (Dickinson College)
• Digital Map Drawer (Penn State University)
• Digital Newspapers (Penn State University)
• Historic Pittsburgh (University of Pittsburgh)
• The Daily Collegian, 1887-2010 (Penn State University)
• La Vie Online, 1890-2000: Penn State's Yearbook (Penn State University)
• Lincoln University Digital Collections 
• Pennsylvania's Past History Collection (Penn State University)
• Penn in the Age of Franklin, 1740-1790 (University of Pennsylvania)
• Pennsylvania Civil War Era Newspaper Collection (Penn State University)
• PhillyHistory (City of Philadelphia)

South Carolina

• Garnet and Black Yearbooks (University of South Carolina)
• Greenville County Historical Records
• Lexington County Probate Court Indexes
• Online Obituary Index - Beaufort County (Beaufort County Library)
• Record and Image Search (South Carolina Department of Archives and History)
• South Carolina Death Indexes, 1915-1967 (South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control)
• South Carolina Digital Library

Southeast

• Southeastern Native American Documents, 1730-1842 (Digital Library of Georgia)

Tennessee

• Great Smoky Mountains Regional Project (University of Tennessee)
• The Tennessee Encyclopedia of History and Culture (The Tennessee Historical Society)

Texas

• The Portal to Texas History (University of North Texas)

Utah

• Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps (University of Utah)
• Utah Death Certificate Index (Utah Division of Archives and Records Services)
• Utah Digital Newspapers (University of Utah)

Virginia

• The Library of Virginia Digital Collections
• Oral Histories in the Perry Library (Old Dominion University)
• The Valley of the Shadow (University of Virginia)

Washington

• Central Washington University Archives & Special Collections
• Early Washington Maps (Washington State University)
• Everett Public Library Digital Collections 
• Tacoma Local History & Genealogy (Tacoma Public Library)
• University of Washington Libraries Digital Collections
• Washington State University Digital Collections 
• Yakima Memory (Yakima Valley Libraries/Yakima Valley Museum)

West Virginia

• Marshall University Special Collections
• Vital Records Research Project (West Virginia Archives and History)
• West Virginia & Regional History Center (West Virginia University)
• West Virginia Department of Arts, Culture, and History Online Exhibits

Wisconsin

• Dictionary of Wisconsin History (Wisconsin Historical Society)
• Pioneering the Upper Midwest: Books from Michigan, Minnesota, and Wisconsin (Library of Congress)
• The State of Wisconsin Collection (University of Wisconsin - Madison)
• University of Wisconsin Digital Collections
• Wisconsin Genealogy Index (Wisconsin Historical Society)
• Wisconsin Historical Society
• Wisconsin Pioneer Experience (University of Wisconsin - Madison)
• Wisconsin Public Land Survey Records (University of Wisconsin - Madison)

Wyoming

• Wyoming Newspapers (Wyoming State Library)