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 December 2025)
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The Smithsonian Digital Library is not a genealogy website in the traditional sense — but it is an exceptionally powerful context and discovery resource. Its collections include publications that document people, places, institutions, and events connected to American history at local, regional, and national levels.
For genealogists, the Smithsonian Digital Library is most useful for:
- locating obscure publications
- discovering institutional and occupational references
- finding historical reports that name individuals
- understanding the broader environment in which ancestors lived
Many of these materials are not digitized elsewhere.
Download the Quicksheet PDF
To obtain a three-page Quicksheet PDF of the information, download it by clicking on the Download button below:
For all the previously published Quick Reference Guides, click on QuickSheets.
Genealogy QuickSheets – Frequently Asked Questions
- 100 Best Free Online Genealogy Websites
- Beyond the Search Engine: Using Google Databases for Genealogy Research
- 64 Genealogy Items to Collect from Your Home
- United States Genealogical and Historical Societies
- 24 Places Where You Can Find Your Ancestors Occupation
- 13 Types of Genealogical Information You Can Find in Old Yearbooks
- 16 Places Where You Can Find Genealogy and Family History Books
- Easy Cousin Relationship Chart