Chronicling America is a nationwide database of online newspapers available for free for any researcher. The site was started in 2005 as a result of the National Digital Newspaper Program (NDNP), which is a partnership between the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), and the Library of Congress. It went live in 2007. Every year […]
Category: Site of the Day
This section of the Archives databases is just a small fraction of what the Archives hold, it is an important subset that is very useful for genealogy researchers. From the Archives website: “You will find in the Access to Archival Databases (AAD) resource online access to records in a small selection of historic databases preserved […]
The Library of Congress (LOC) Digital Collections are large and growing. Currently there are 501 different collections. You should definitely incorporate this massive set of collections into your genealogy research. They are divided into 15 different topics (the number of collections is in brackets): American History [213] Art & Architecture [56] Geography & Places [32] Government, Law […]
FindaGrave is one of the most popular genealogy sites. It was started many years ago as a site to record where celebrities were buried and since its inception in 1995, it has grown into a massive site, recording photos of gravesites and including memorials to millions of deceased individuals. The history is best summarized from […]
AncientFaces is a community-driven collection of photos. You can search by name but also browse by themes, people categories, date ranges, and places. From the website: “AncientFaces.com was officially launched in 2000 by Founder & Creator Daniel J. Pinna, and his mother, Founder & Community and Content Director Kathy Pinna. Over time, AncientFaces has grown from just […]
The USGenWeb Project was formed in 1996. It is a marvelous assortment of highly usable genealogy collections of all varieties and categories. It is a diverse (and sometimes eclectic) variety of genealogy records. It was and still is managed by and contributed to by volunteers. Its history (from the USGenWeb project website): “In the spring […]
The National Cemetery Administration manages all the national cemeteries that bury Veterans of the Military. The two main areas of interest of the website are the ability to find a national cemetery and the very popular Grave Locator. The National Gravesite Locator is an online database that includes (from the website): “Burial locations of veterans […]
The FamilySearch Digital Library essentially is the place for books. FamilySearch identifies it in a more detailed fashion: “Over 500,000 genealogy books, family histories, maps, yearbooks, and more.” Partner libraries have shared parts of their collections with FamilySearch. They are major libraries in the U.S., Canada, and Europe. You can search the Digital Library by entering […]
If you are looking for maps to aid in your genealogy research, the David Rumsey Map Collection website should not be missed. It has a terrific search engine with associated tools, as well as an abundance of information. From the website: “The David Rumsey Map Collection was started over 35 years ago and contains more […]
Tens of millions of people can trace at least one ancestor from Ellis Island. Personally, about 50 of my ancestors came through Ellis Island. From the website: “The Passenger Search database allows you to look for family members who arrived at the Port of New York from 1820 to 1957. At the Ellis Island National […]