The Ancestor Hunt regularly adds and updates new collection links, as well as searches for and fixes broken links.
(This page's most recent update is January 2025)
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Institutional records are another class of collections that should be part of one’s genealogy research repertoire. Although most of your ancestors may not have spent time in an institution, I’ll bet that almost every family tree has several that have. So they are worth your effort to research.
Here are a few good primers for searching institutional records:
- FamilySearch – Institution and School Records
- Finding Your Ancestors in Poor House or Poor Farm Records
- Researching Ancestors in Asylums
What kind of institutions and types of records can we discover?
- Poorhouse
- Poor Farm
- Orphanage
- Orphan Train
- Mental Hospital
- Workhouse
- Almshouse
- Institutional School
- Sanitarium
- Asylums
- Correctional institutions
Acquiring records from each of these types of institutions may be difficult because of privacy concerns, but they are worth the effort.
Below you will find free online institutional records you can use to help you discover more about your relatives who have spent time in an institution.
Note: Some links listed take you to a FamilySearch Collection of digital images. Near the bottom of the page under Film/Digital Notes is the name of each sub-collection. If there is a camera icon at the right of the name (in the Format column) then the collections’ images are browsable. If there is a camera with a key icon, it is only available at a Family History Center or affiliated library. If there is a film reel icon, then it is only available in microfilm format, not digital. To take full advantage make sure that you are logged in to FamilySearch. The results may be different if you are signed in, rather than not.
California Online Institutional Records
- Butte County, Register of Prisoners, A-Z, 1880-1885
- California State Prison, Folsom, California: 1879-1903, Numerical Register
- California, Alcatraz Inmate List
- California, Alcatraz Inmate Register
- California, Alcatraz Staff and Inmates
- California, Former Alcatraz Inmates A-G
- California, Former Alcatraz Inmates H-L
- California, Former Alcatraz Inmates M-Q
- California, Former Alcatraz Inmates R-T
- California, Former Alcatraz Inmates U-Z
- California, Index to Requisitions and Extraditions, 1860-1940
- California, Numerical Index of Former Alcatraz Inmates
- California, Sacramento County, Folsom, Correctional Institutions
- California, San Quentin Prison 1900, Index of Prisoners Surnames A – I
- California, San Quentin Prison 1930, Index of Prisoners Surnames A – H
- California, San Quentin Prison 1930, Index of Prisoners Surnames I – Z
- California, World War I Selective Service System Draft Registration Cards, Prisoners, Insane, In Hospitals, 1917-1918
- California. State Prison, Folsom, Register and Descriptive List of Convicts, No. 1-5347, 1880-1903, 1938
- California. State Prison, San Quentin, Prison Register, and Descriptive List, 1851-1897
- Inyo County, Inyo County Hospital and Farm Burial Site
- Kern County, Kern County Jail, 1930 Census
- Los Angeles County, Lincoln Heights Jail 1920 Census
- Los Angeles County, Los Angeles County Farm Cemetery
- Los Angeles County, Norwalk State Hospital Cemetery
- Madera County, Ahwahnee Sanatorium Cemetery, 1920-1934
- Marin County, Marin County Farm Cemetery
- Marin County, Saint Vincents Orphanage Cemetery
- Marin County, San Quentin Prison Cemetery
- Mono County, Mono County Poor Farm Cemetery
- Mono County, Mono County Poor Farm Cemetery
- Napa County, Napa State Hospital Cemetery AKA Napa Insane Asylum Cemetery
- Napa County, Veterans Memorial Grove Cemetery
- Nevada County, Orphans of Nevada County on State Aid, 1904
- Placer County, Weimar Sanatorium Cemetery
- Riverside County, Sherman Institute Cemetery AKA Sherman Indian School Cemetery
- Sacramento County, Folsom Prison Cemetery
- Sacramento County, Record of Burials of Indigents, 1931-1961
- Sacramento County, Sacramento Police Jail Registers and Records of Arrest, 1872-1940
- San Benito, San Benito County Cemetery AKA County Farm Cemetery
- San Francisco, Record of Orphans and Half-Orphans, 1905-1910
- San Francisco, Record of Orphans, Half Orphans, etc., on State Aid, 1907-1910
- San Joaquin County, Stockton State Hospital Cemetery (Defunct)
- San Mateo County, San Mateo County Poor Farm Cemetery
- San Mateo County, San Mateo County Poor Farm Cemetery
- Santa Barbara County, Sheriff’s Office Record of Criminals, ca. 1889-1911
- Solano County, Good Templar Orphanage Cemetery
- Sonoma County, Sonoma State Home Cemetery
Good Luck and Happy Hunting!