Finding Your Ancestors in Digital Commons Collections

Digital Commons Collections are among the most overlooked genealogy resources on the internet. While most genealogists associate Digital Commons with academic papers, the platform also hosts thousands of digitized primary-source collections that contain names, places, and records directly relevant to family history research.

These collections often include materials that:

• are not available on major genealogy sites
• were digitized locally by universities or archives
• document regional families, institutions, and communities
• preserve obscure publications and records

For genealogists, Digital Commons functions as a distributed discovery system — not one website, but hundreds of interconnected repositories that quietly hold valuable genealogical material.

Download the Quicksheet PDF

To obtain a four-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