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SCOPE

Genealogy research is an involved process that can last a person's entire lifetime depending on how far back in their family's history they want to go. This pathfinder will help you help patrons start their research or get them moving in the right direction.If a person wishes to start researching their family history, the first thing they need to do is start with a three generation chart and also use a family group record when conducting research.

Library Catalogs

Library of Congress (LC) subject headings:

  • Ancestry
  • Descent
  • Family history (Genealogy)
  • Family trees
  • Genealogical research
  • Genealogy--Handbooks, manuals, etc.
  • Genealogy--History
  • Genealogy--Methodology
  • Genealogy--Research
  • Genealogy--Sources
  • Pedigrees 

Library Catalog Call Numbers

People researching genealogy will search for a myriad of information under many different call numbers. Those looking for more “how to” information as well as family histories will generally find them under these call numbers.

  • Dewey Decimal - 929
  • Library of Congress - CS…

ONLINE RESOURCES

Full-text, Indexing, and Abstracting Sources

These electronic resources may be available by subscription through a local library. Some are available to use from home with a library card and some are only available inside a physical library. Ones marked with an *(asterisk) are also available by individual subscription that patrons can purchase on their own.

  • *Access Newspaper Archive - Searchable newspaper pages, dating as far back as the 1700s.
     
  • *America’s Genealogy Bank - Easily search and browse millions of genealogies, obituaries, marriage and birth announcements and more from 1652 to the present. Includes historical newspapers, books and documents, along with modern obituaries and the Social Security Death Index.
     
  • *Ancestry Library Edition - A genealogy research database that contains millions of records and checks them instantly for the name, revealing such details as military, birth and death records, past addresses and even immigration information. 
     
  • *American Civil War Research Database - A variety of Civil War related records and resources.
     
  • *Genealogy.com – Includes: Genealogy Library, 1900 census index, World Family Tree, International and Passenger Records
     
  • HeritageQuest Online – Includes: U.S. Federal Censuses, Genealogy and local history books, Periodical Source Index, Revolutionary War records, Freedman’s Bank Records, LexisNexis U.S. Serial Set – Only available through libraries. No individual subscriptions.
     
  • *Political Family Tree - Political genealogies from around the world.

Web Sites

These are free resources, some you might have to register to use. They are reliable and widely used.

  • Archivegrid - Contains nearly a million archival collection descriptions held by hundreds of libraries, archives and museums.
     
  • Brigham Young University Digital Collections - This Brigham Young library site has complete searchable digital copies online of various books. For example there are copies of the 1881 Williams history of Washington County, the 1902 Andrews history of Washington County, Hildreth's Biographical and Historical Memoirs of the Early Pioneers, and the Revolutionary War Soldiers of Washington County, Ohio.
     
  • Burke's Peerage & Gentry - The authentic genealogical guide to the U.K. and Ireland's titled and untitled families.
     
  • Castle Garden - Free access to a database of information on 10 million immigrants from 1830 through 1892, the year Ellis Island opened.
     
  • Cyndi's List - List of Genealogy Sites on the Internet.
     
  • Defense Prisoner of War/Missing Personnel Office - Search for POWs and other missing Armed services personel.
     
  • The Digital Shoebox - A searchable collection of historical images from Southeastern Ohio (to choose WCPL, click the "Select Collections" button).  
     
  • Ellis Island - An informative site about Ellis Island. Also provides free searches of immigration records.  
     
  • Familyreunion.com - A web site dedicated to family reunions. Includes a free area to post information about your up coming family reunion.
     
  • FamilySearch - A large collection of free family history, family tree and genealogy records.
     
  • FamilySearch Record Search - A pilot program of searchable genealogy records, including digitized Ohio death certificates 1908-1953, 1850 census, 1880 census.
     
  • Genforum - A large collection of genealogy forums.
     
  • The Library of Congress - Preservation - Information on the care, handling, and storage of photographs.
     
  • Ohio Memory - Discover 21,000 primary sources from archives, historical societies, libraries, and museums that document Ohio's past from prehistory through the present.e present.
     
  • R. B. Hayes Obituary Index - An index to over 1,300,000 obituaries, death and marriage notices and other sources from Ohio from the 1810s to the present day.
     
  • Rootsweb - Free and comprehensive genealogy resource site.
     
  • USGenWeb Project - A group of volunteers working together to provide free genealogy websites for genealogical research in every county and every state of the United States.
     
  • Screengenes.com - A portal to many genealogical resources on the Internet.

Dissertations and Theses

Seeking information, seeking connections, seeking meaning: genealogists and family historians; Elizabeth Yakel
School of Information - University of Michigan, Ann Arbor

Where Is the List with All the Names? Information-Seeking Behavior of Genealogists; Wendy M. Duff, Catherine A. Johnson, American Archivist, Volume 66, Number 1 / Spring-Summer 2003, Pages79-95

Generations Past: A Selected List of Sources for Afro-American Genealogical Research; Lawson, Sandra M., Comp.

PRINT RESOURCES

Books

Books included in this section were published between 2005 and 2010. Although there have been many more books published on Genealogy, these books represent some of the most current information available to date.

  • The Complete Idiots Guide to Genealogy 2nd ed, 2005 by Christine Rose, ISBN# 15922574300
    Dewey 929.1072 ROSE; Library of Congress CS16 .R66 2005
     
  • Google Your Family Tree: Unlocking the Hidden Power of Google, 2008 by Daniel M. Lynch ISBN# 0982073712
    Dewey 929.1 LYNCH; Library of Congress CS21.5 .L96 2008
  • Unpuzzling Your Past: the best-selling basic guide to genealogy 4th ed, 2010 by Emily Croom, ISBN# 0806318547
    Dewey: 929.1 CROOM; Library of Congress: CS47 .C76 2010

Journals and Magazines