Genealogy

Access Genealogy – Contains the largest collection of free genealogy. It directs you to free United States genealogy resources online. You can also search links that are specific to one state, such as Indiana. Their specialty is Native American genealogy and research.

Civil War Soldiers and Sailors System Database – The CWSS is a database containing information about the men who served in the Union and Confederate armies during the Civil War. Other information on the site includes histories of Union and Confederate regiments, links to descriptions of significant battles, and selected lists of prisoner-of-war records and cemetery records, which will be amended over time. The CWSS is a cooperative effort between the National Park Service and several public and private partners whose goal is to increase Americans’ understanding of this decisive era in American history by making information about it widely accessible.

Daughters of the American Revolution – This site shows genealogy information, membership information, a look into their museum and so much more.

Ellis Island – This site is filled with information about Ellis Island, including a passenger & ship search, stories & oral histories, famous passengers, and educational resources.

FamilySearch – The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints provides FamilySearch free of charge to everyone, regardless of tradition, culture, or religious affiliation. FamilySearch resources help millions of people around the world discover their heritage and connect with family members. You can also make your own virtual family tree!

Find a Grave – Find the graves of ancestors, create virtual memorials or add photos, virtual flowers and a note to a loved one’s memorial. Search or browse cemeteries and grave records for every-day and famous people from around the world.

Genealogy.com – A source for family history buffs to find genealogical research originally posted in GenForum and our most popular genealogy articles.

GenealogyBank – Search genealogy records, obituaries, birth records, marriage records, engagement notices, big city newspapers, and small town newspapers.

Geneanet – Genealogical database network. Available in 7 languages.

Indiana Historical Society – Access to Indiana Historical Society site.

Indiana Archives and Records Administration – Assists State and local governments in the cost-effective, efficient and secure management of governmental records, by providing services throughout the life cycle of records, including creation, use, records inventory and scheduling, storage, and disposition.

Indiana State Library: Genealogy Division – Provides information on the Indiana State Library’s Genealogy Division, including events, resources, and services. It has become one of the largest collections of family history information in the Midwest, including more than 40,000 print items (family histories, indexes to records, how-to-books, cemetery transcriptions, family history magazines, and more), as well as military pension information. The emphasis of the collection is on Indiana and bordering states.

Internet Archive: Digital Library – A non-profit library of millions of free books, movies, software, music, websites, and more. This site has old family history books that you can view online.

Mennonite Archival Information Database – Contains archival descriptions and photographs from the collections of their archival partners.

MennObits – Amish and Mennonite obituaries.

National Genealogical Society – Access to the National Genealogical Society.

RootsWeb.com – An affiliate of Ancestry.com.

USGenWeb Project – A group of volunteers working together and having fun providing free online genealogy help and information for every U.S. state and county. The site provides links to state sites, which, in turn, provide gateways to the counties.

U.S. Social Security Death Index (1935-2014) – Access via Ancestry.com.

USA People Search – Access to public records databases that make finding the information you need about someone quick and painless. Results include name, aliases, age, current address, address history, unlisted phone numbers, relatives, email addresses, and more.

The WorldGenWeb Project – A non-profit, volunteer-based organization dedicated to providing genealogical and historical records and resources for world-wide access.

National Newspapers

U.S. Newspaper Directory – Hosted by the Library of Congress, the directory lists newspapers published in the United States from 1690 to the present. Currently, the directory details 156,720 titles. Users can search by state, county, city, date range, keywords, frequency, language, and/or whether an ethnic or labor press. The results describe the newspaper including the title, place of publication, geographic coverage, publisher, dates of publication, description of the material such volume or edition numbers, frequency, language, subjects for catalog purposes, LCCN, OCLC number, preceding titles and succeeding titles. Users can view libraries that own the title and the MARC record for the entity.

Chronicling America – Also hosted by the Library of Congress in conjunction with other organizations, the site currently has more than 17 million newspaper pages digitized covering 1789 to 1963. With several options to search the papers. The “Search Pages” tab is a simple search of keywords, state, and time period. The “All Digitized Newspapers” tab limits titles by state, ethnicity, or language. Finally, the “Advanced Search” tab permits the user to search by state, newspaper title, date range, language, and the ability to search for phrases, words within a specific proximity to each other, and the option of using and / or terms. The results include the newspaper image and OCR text for the page. Users have the option of saving the images as a PDF or JPG.

Fulton History – Hosted by Thomas M. Tryniski, a researcher based in New York, who compiled more than 49 million newspaper images from across the United States and Canada. The user has the option to either browse or search the collection. Click on “browse my Archives,” then select the “Historical Newspapers United States and Canada” cabinet option. Also available is an excel spreadsheet of newspapers that detail the newspaper title, location, and years covered as of 2020. The newspaper collections are alphabetical by city, state, and the newspaper title. Choose “Search My Archives” and search by name or keyword, using the Boolean, fuzzy, and phonic options. The location of the results are below the search box. The images are available as PDFs.

Elephind.com – A cloud-based product by Veridian Software Company, who works with universities and public libraries in the U.S. and other counties to make digital newspaper collections accessible. Currently, the site hosts 4,267 newspaper titles totaling more than 3 million images. The newspapers cover the U.S., Australia, Mexico, New Zealand, and Singapore from 1800 to current. The search function on the site is simple, limiting options to keywords and names, date range, and sources. The facets on the results page permit
the user to limit to specific states and decades. The results link to the digital images available from other online digital projects.

The Ancestor Hunt: Newspaper Links & Obituaries – Hosted by Kenneth R. Marks, a researcher based in Arizona, the site is a great central access point to historical newspapers from the U.S. and Canada. On the main page, click on the “Newspaper Links” tab and scroll through links that are alphabetical by state, specialized collections, such as ethic, religious, and occupational, then Canada provinces. Within each U.S. state section, the free historical newspaper links are initially by the digital provider then alphabetical by city. Currently the site provides access to 30,200 links to free sites updated as of June 2020. On the main page, click on the “Obituaries” tab to scroll through the nearly 3,600 obituary links updated as of June 2020

State Newspapers

Hoosier State Chronicles – Hosted by the Indiana State Library, this site is an excellent example of access to local newspapers through a state library or state archives site. Currently, more than 1 million pages are available by either searching or browsing the newspapers. Users can search by name or keywords, can limit by dates, or by the newspaper title. The results include the page image and OCR text for the article. Images can be saved as JPGs.

Indiana Genealogical Society – The Indiana Genealogical Society prides itself on having a minimum of ten databases for each of the ninety-two counties. The site offers 2,317 databases, some being free and others for members-only, of which fourteen that are specific to newspapers. The state genealogical society is a great resource for discovering local collections. Located under the “Research” tab, the “County Addresses” option provides a contact for a genealogist, societies, libraries, and record-holders for each county.

Other notable state newspaper collections to consider:

Local Newspapers

Allen County Genealogical Society of Indiana – Local society that provides a number of free and members-only databases created by members of the local organization. The site features eight databases specific to newspapers, which offers indexes and abstracts of articles concerning bastardy cases, divorces, insanity claims, obituaries, and unclaimed letters.

Kalamazoo Public Library (MI) – An example of a local history collection in a public library that has indexed newspaper articles and obituaries from the local newspaper making them searchable within the local public libraries catalog system. Searching for a person’s name as a subject results in a catalog entry with each of the newspaper article citations. The user can then immediately request a copy of the article from the library.

Quincy Public Library (IL) – An illustration of a history collection at a local library that created a newspaper archive of digitized images for six local papers ranging from 1835 through 1926. Users can search using and/or, exact, or none search phrases, by the newspaper name, or by date range. One can view the article, the full page, and OCR text. Images can be printed or emailed.