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Getting Started | |
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International and Immigration Destinations | |
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State and Regional Resources | |
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State and Regional Resources
Alabama Department of Archives and History
Your Alabama Civil War soldier awaits in a database here, along with online files of WWI servicemen, photos and 1867 voter rolls for a growing list of counties: It now includes Wilcox, Winston, Walker, Tuscaloosa, Tallapoosa, Talladega, Sumter, St. Clair, Shelby, Russell and Pike. The Local Government Records Microfilm Database will tell you where to look next.
Archives of Maryland Online
Since last we looked, the hidden treasures at the Maryland archives have been brought out from behind cumbersome URLs and revealed in this online trove of 471,000 historical documents. These range from especially rich collections of city directories and probate records to land, military and early Maryland resources.
Arizona Genealogy Birth and Death Certificates
We wish other states would follow Arizona’s example of posting searchable indexes to birth (1887 to 1931) and death (1878 to 1956) certificates, linked to PDFs of the originals.
Colorado’s Historic Newspaper Collection
This collaborative project aims to create a statewide historical newspaper database, spanning 1859 to 1923 and a total of 1,639,000 pages—all fully indexed. You can view articles individually or in context.
Digital Library of Georgia
Discover your Georgia roots, y’all, in this gateway to 500,000 digital images, documents and films from 60 institutions and 100 government agencies. Finds here include 50,000 aerial photos, the New Georgia Encyclopedia, books, manuscripts and newspapers.
Florida Memory Project
Besides more than 130,000 images in the Florida Photographic Collection, this handsome site serves up such genealogical morsels as digitized Spanish land grants, 13,000 Confederate pension applications and WWI service cards.
Illinois State Archives
It’s hard to top this collection of indexes and databases for Illinois research. Besides a wealth of military and veterans’ files, the statewide marriage index (1763 to 1900) and dual death indexes (pre-1916 and 1916 to 1950) are essential tools, as is the Illinois Regional Archives Depositories (IRAD) index for locating other records in the Land of Lincoln.
Kansas State Historical Society
Highlights of this Jayhawk history resource are a searchable index to the 1895 Kansas census, plus the Kansas Biographical Names Index. The guides to researching your Kansas kin also are top-notch.
Kentucky Historical Society
Browse the Kentuckiana Digital Library, search the online catalog and statewide virtual library, then see where your Kentucky cousins wound up in the cemetery records database. It’s all a pleasure at this spectacularly good-looking site.
Library of Virginia
This site is a must for anyone with Confederate soldier kin, whether or not from Virginia, for its ability to search names published in Confederate Veteran magazine between 1893 and 1932. You also can find ancestors in 6,000 scanned family Bible records, the death register index (1853 to 1896), wills and administrations (to 1800) and Confederate pension applications.
Louisiana State Archives Confederate Pension Applications Index
This index covers more than 49,000 names from pension applications submitted to Louisiana’s Board of Pension Commissioners.
Maine State Archives
Online indexes for marriages (1892 to 1996), deaths (1960 to 1996) and Revolutionary War land grant and pension applications are just for starters. The archival database will tell you whether your Maine ancestors’ records are available in the state archives—in which case you can order them online—or at other state agencies.
Massachusetts Archives
Center stage here goes to the database of birth and death indexes (1841 to 1910), searchable by first and last names, year and location. Each entry gives the original certificate’s location. The other star attraction—even if you don’t have Massachusetts kin—is the ongoing project to transcribe more than 1 million records of immigrants who arrived via Boston from 1848 to 1891.
Minnesota Historical Society
Even Paul Bunyan would be hard-pressed to get his arms around all these indexes to deaths (1904 to 2001), births (1900 to 1934), place names, microfilmed newspapers, digitized photos, Sanborn insurance maps, and even a directory of Gopher State photographers who may have captured your kin.
Missouri State Archives
Show me the records, including 185,000 pre-1910 births and deaths, a death-certificate database (1910 to 1956), naturalization records (1816 to 1955), court papers and land patents. You’re really in luck, though, if you want Missouri military records: 576,000 in all, from the War of 1812 through World War I, many linked to images of the originals.
Nevada State Library and Archives
No need for subscription census sites if you’ve got ancestors in Nevada, the first state to post all its federal census data—310,000 entries total from 1860 through 1920 (minus the missing 1890 census)—online, with powerful search tools to boot.
New Jersey State Library
The Garden State library’s site is especially worth harvesting for Revolutionary War and Civil War records, as well as the history of African-Americans in New Jersey.
New York State Civil War Soldier Database
This database of more than 360,000 New York soldiers encompasses those who donned Union blue in state volunteer and US sharpshooter units, as well as three regiments of US Colored Troops.
NewEnglandAncestors.org
Membership does have its privileges if you’re researching your family tree in New England. A $75 annual fee lets you scour more than 110 million names from the New England Historic Genealogical Society’s resources, including censuses, vital records, church records, voter and tax lists, Sanborn maps, the Great Migration study of immigrants between 1620 and 1633, newspapers from Colonial days to 1920, and The New England Historical and Genealogical Register from its inception in 1847 through 2001.
North Dakota Institute for Regional Studies
Researchers in both North and South Dakota will appreciate the Dakota Territory 1885 census here. You’ll also find naturalization records, a biography index and a database of obituaries from the Fargo Forum newspaper.
Ohio Historical Society
New here is an online index to records from the state’s boys and girls industrial schools (1858 to 1915). It joins such databases as the Ohio Death Certificate Index (1913 to 1944) and the roster of Ohioans in the War of 1812. You also can search the society’s 230,000-item library catalog or jump over to Ohio Memory, a digital history drawing on 26,000 primary sources from 330 repositories.
Online Archive of California
Drawing on materials from a variety of California museums, historical societies and archives, this compilation encompasses more than 120,000 images; 50,000 pages of documents, letters and oral histories; and 8,000 guides to collections.
Oregon State Archives Genealogy Records
The Oregon Historical Records Index searches more than a half-million entries in documents at the state archives. If your ancestors’ records aren’t there, the Oregon Historical County Records Guide or the Provisional and Territorial Records Guide can probably tell you where in the state’s 36 counties to look.
Pennsylvania State Archives
The Quaker State’s archives belie Pennsylvania’s pacifistic founders with some 1.5 million online military records. Databases include the Revolutionary War Military Abstract Card File, Militia Officers Index Cards (1775 to 1800), Civil War Veterans’ Card File and World War I Service Medal Application Cards.
Texas State Library & Archives Commission
Delve deep into the heart of Texas history with databases of 54,634 Confederate pension applications (1899 to 1975), Texas Adjutant General Service Records (1836 to 1935), the Index to Republic Claims (1835 to 1846) and more.
Utah History Research Center Index Search
Search this index to more than 250,000 1905-to-1954 death certificates (with later years in the works), and your results now link to digital images of the originals. Various county and court records are also searchable here, including some births, divorces and probate files. There’s a wealth of digital photos, too.
Washington State Digital Archives
The nation’s first archives dedicated specifically to electronic preservation of records, this site keeps adding to its already amazing array of databases. Newly online are the state’s 1910 census and an image-linked index to pre-1930 marriage records. That brings the total of records online to 20.7 million—and counting.
Western History and Genealogy
The Denver Public Library is your host for a variety of obituary databases, a guide to Colorado place names, indexes to Centennial State pioneers, the 1887 Denver city directory, military records (including Nebraska Civil War records) and the Western History Photography Collection of more than 120,000 historical images.
Western States Marriage Records Index
Now the aegis of the Idaho Falls Regional Family History Center, this project has posted more than 490,000 marriage records to date, with more added daily (notably New Mexico records from the 1700s). You’ll find most pre-1900 marriages for Arizona, Idaho and Nevada, plus significant numbers from California, western Colorado, Montana, Oregon, Utah, eastern Washington and Wyoming.
Wisconsin Historical Society
Milk these Dairy State databases for all they’re worth: more than 150,000 obituaries and biographical sketches; 1 million-plus births, 400,000 deaths and 1 million marriages in the Pre-1907 Vital Records Index; 1,000 articles, memoirs, interviews and other primary sources on early Wisconsin history; Civil War rosters; vintage images; and 16,000 historical and biographical articles.
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