Favorite library connection??

Question

A win-win challenge, I hope-
What is the link to a favorite library online that has cool genealogical goodies? Hidden treasures?
Newbies, you too can play... if you don't yet have a favorite, try to find if your local library has anything special to offer, or maybe I can nudge you to check out what your State library has. The Texas state archives, for example has a data base of original land grants for the whole state. Note... this challenge is not limited to US sources.
Looking for some smiles. Looking for some "wow, I never thought of that". Something to benefit lots of people.

edit-
poor mr looneytoon... won't scare him further by telling him genealogists have picnics in cemeteries...

100 Wendy points to everyone who shared positive energy...
and hubby hates it because I am glued to the computer, trying out each one...

Answer 1

The very best US library for genealogy research (bar none, and I've been to most) is the Newberry library in Chicago. It's a private library and you need to pay to use it for the day (or go for a yearly membership...still very inexpensive). But what is in the room...and the room is bigger than most courthouses in the US...is unimaginable. They've got private collections that have been left to them that date back to the Civil War, Revolutionary War, War of 1812, Mexican-American, etc. The records came from soldiers who were there and include their private diaries. The military records are as good as what you'll find at the NARA regional centers. Their German, French, Spanish and Russian records are better than anything I've ever found online. You won't find many of their records online, but if anyone's going to be in Chicago, plan to spend a day or three there and you'll be in genealogy nirvana.

From there, the Mormon Family History Centers are great if you order the films for the area of your particular interest. In spite of the bad family history sheets people have donated through the years, they still hold the largest private collection of public records in the world. Maybe the collection isn't all on the internet, but the information held in those films is the only thing that keeps many of our ancestors from complete obscurity.

To anyone who says "I've hit a complete brickwall on an ancestor", the answer you should consider is a trip to the official library of the state where that ancestor lived. The State Library is usually connected directly to the State Archives. You'll find records in there that are lost at the local level. You'll find obscure newspapers that your local library never kept copies of through the years.

The best of the best public libraries include:

Allen County library in Fort Wayne, Indiana. It's unsurpassed in its genealogy collection in comparison to other county libraries in the US. http://www.acpl.lib.in.us

Burton Collection at the main branch of the Detroit Public Library. It's expensive to get in there, but it's the sole repository for many records from pre-1838 Northwest Territory...including not only Michigan, but also Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and Wisconsin. It's also the best place to search for records on those pesky French-Canadians who crossed into the US and didn't leave a solid paper trail to tell us where they originated. http://www.detroit.lib.mi.us/burton

The Tutweiler Collection at the Birmingham Alabama Library is a great place to research the deep South, and especially the Civil War. http://www.bham.lib.al.us

People also rave about the New York Public Library. I'm not as much of a fan...you'll do far better at the Newberry. But if that's where you need to look for records, they are pretty well organized. http://www.nypl.org/research/chss/lhg/genea.html

The other private libraries to consider in your research are:
Daughters of the American Revolution http://www.dar.org
Sons of Confederate Veterans http://www.scv.org
The National Archives and Records Administration: http://www.nara.gov
The Polish Museum of America Library in Chicago (invaluable to Central European research): http://pma.prcua.org/libraryen.html
The Library of the New England Historic Genealogical Society: http://nehgs.org/libraries/main/
For Swedish research, North Park University in Chicago is the place to do the research. The beauty of their Center for Scandinavian Studies is that they are partnered with a great university in Sweden and have the ability to help you research on both sides of the ocean: http://www.northpark.edu/Centers/scandinavian/index.cfm


In Canada, the two best resources for French ancestry aren't public, but they are on the internet and semi-public access exists:

The University of Montreal PRDH: http://www.genealogie.umontreal.ca/en/
The Universite de Moncton Centre for Acadian Studies/ Musee Acadien: http://www.umoncton.ca/maum/mainframe_an.html

But the best library for any one person is the one in the county where your ancestors lived. No one else will have the greatest accumulated resource for that area than will the local county library. I'm not sure why people shy away from leaving their home computer and traveling to the public library, but you're really hurting your research. The best part of all is that most public library systems pay for public access licenses to some of the elite genealogy database systems and you get to use them free if you just get a library card. If ever there's a "I never thought of that" moment, it's realizing how powerful your little library card can be.

Answer 2

Hi Wendy C

One membership that I have that has been invaluable is at www.godfrey.org. It is a library out of Middletown Connecticut and the membership has been $35.00 per year. You get so many things for that $35.00 a year including the Newspaper Archive whom normally charges a $99.00 annual membership fee by themselves otherwise. They add new resources every month and quite honestly, there are too many resources to list on answers.

They have online books, directories, Immigration lists, Prison records, resources for every state and some countries. It is totally worth the $35.00 per year.

Another obscure link that some people might not know about it are the marriage index, death index, and some cemetery listings available for Sebastian County, Arkansas (Fort Smith) area of Arkansas. It is available through their library site. Here is the link

http://209.183.162.21/irgendbmenu.html
The link to the main library site in case this link didn't work is
http://www.fspl.lib.ar.us/genmain.html

A couple of links that may be helpful are to actual death certificate sites

Arizona : http://genealogy.az.gov/
Birth certificates available prior to 1931 and death certificates from 1878-1956

Missouri: http://www.sos.mo.gov/archives/resources/deathcertificates/

Death certificates free for 1910-1956

GREAT question by the way. A genealogy hug to you today.

Answer 3

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Answer 4

Ahhhh a favorite of mine was the Steele Memorial Library at Elmira NY, just because. http://www.steele.lib.ny.us/downtown.htm

I particularly went nuts having access to the State censuses, taken on the "5" of each decade, 1855 was a favorite. It asked what county each person was born in and how long each lived in the enumerated county, and for some reasons many times gave the wife's maiden name, depending on where. Keep pumping the $$ onto that plastic card to make the copies!

And you bet, cemeteries are great for picnics! Hats, ice chests, sunscreen & bug stuff required. Special Sundays like Memorial Day are terrific to keep any eye out to see what new friend or cousin might visit a section across the way you know is full of kinfolk!

Answer 5

Mine is probably not a big secret among Illinois researchers, but for those who don't live in IL but are searching there... I love the Illinois State Archives. They have a constantly updated index database of marriages & death, as well as public domain land tract sales and Illinois veterans database - all online. Plus, if a record isn't available online but the archives has it, you can order it for a nominal fee.

Answer 6

'I love my library, they have the most incredible collection of photographs on this wonderful website.http://www.picturethepast.org.uk/ have a look what's on this site. When you open the link on the tool bar theres a tab that says search the images click on that one. On the next screen click accept, then on the next screen make your selection from,
Nottingham 13,492 photos
Nottinghamshire 15,913 photos
Derby 9,755 photos
Derbyshire 22,408 photos,
Completely free to use and download prints. Excellent site, brilliant library facilities and as you've probably realised I love my library.