|
|
      |
 THE GENEALOGIST IS BLESSED WITH GREAT RESOURCES AVAILABLE NEAR ST. LOUIS Below is just a sampling. [The library address is the current physical location. Please check their web site for further information.] |
| Around The St. Louis Area: |
St.
Louis Public Library St. Louis Public is located downtown. It is in close proximity to the Civil Courts Building and City Hall. The collection began in the early 1900’s. This renowned collection of genealogical and local history material includes materials covering Missouri, Illinois, and states east and south of Missouri whose population has the most influence on Missouri’s population. The History and Genealogy Department’s website is http://www.slpl.lib.mo.us/libsrc/h&gdept.htm . Among its microfilm holdings is the largest collection of federal census records, indexes, and Soundexes in the area. They have the 19th Century passenger lists and indexes for the major U.S. ports, military records, a wide variety of St. Louis newspapers, and St. Louis city and county directories. Also on microfilm is the city vital records and burial certificates from the 1850’s to 1908, and St. Louis marriage registers and indexes from 1808 to 1881. Besides microforms, they have many specialty items such as their Heraldry files and complete copy of the Boston Transcripts. Published records and county histories for Missouri and states east and south of Missouri, extensive map and periodical holdings, and approximately 5,000 family histories round out the collection. This library has several ongoing indexing projects. The master list of Indexes and Bibliographies is at http://www.slpl.lib.mo.us/libsrc/lisindex.htm . One popular indexing project is the online for the obituaries and burial permits published in the St. Louis Post Dispatch available on http://www.slpl.lib.mo.us/libsrc/obit.htm. Currently, this index covers the years 1880 – 1927, 1942 – 45, and 1992 forward. Also shown are Casualty Lists, Missing-In-Action, Reburial Lists, and Prisoner of War for World War I and II. They also have the St. Louis Argus Obituary Indexcovers from 1915 – 1919, 1921 – 1927, and 1942 – 1945. This is available at http://previous.slpl.org/libsrc/argusobit.htm . St. Louis County Library This is one of the fastest growing collections in the St. Louis area. The 5th tier houses the Special Collection Department, which has become the home of the St. Louis Genealogical Society’s Collection, the Julius K. Hunter African American Research Collection, and the circulating National Genealogical Collection. The holdings include the entire run of Missouri, Illinois, Arkansas, Louisiana, and Mississippi Federal Census, along with the Agricultural, the Industrial, and Mortality Censuses (1850 – 1880). Some unique microfilm features are: 1) the St. Louis Archdiocesan Parish Records (1766 – 1993). These records cover both the city and county of St. Louis plus 10 surrounding counties 2) the WW I Registration Cards for Missouri, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and 3) Army, Navy, and National Guard WWI Discharge Cards for Missouri. The microform collection contains birth and death records for St. Louis City prior to 1910, various local cemetery, funeral home, and church records, naturalization papers filed in St. Louis, and St. Louis City and County Directories. Although the book collection is heavy on Missouri and Illinois, the recent additions from NGS have made this a national collection. This facility also has a complete set of the Family Tree Maker CD’s as well as access to Ancestry. Com. This collection is ever changing. Check the http://www.slcl.org/branches/hq/sc/ website for current additions. Additionally, their indexing projects continue to expand. Check out their indexes on http://www.slcl.org/branches/hq/sc/indexes.htm . Missouri Historical Society This is a true under utilized gem of the region. Since the founding in 1866,
the Missouri Historical Society Library and Archives has been collecting
published and manuscript material regarding the history of St. Louis, Missouri,
and the American West. Notable genealogical holdings include: nineteenth-century
published family histories; St. Louis and Missouri; maps and atlases; St.
Louis newspapers dating back to 1808, including the German-language Westliche
Post (1857 – 1938); St. Louis city and county directories; non
federal census schedules for the St. Louis area; special federal census schedules
for Missouri (1850 – 1880); colonial and territorial records; fur trade
records; Missouri tax lists; court records; military records; and records
and publications of St. Louis businesses, institutions, clubs, and societies.
They start describing their research collection on http://www.mohistory.org/content/LibraryAndResearch/visit.aspx place
their archives and Still and moving Images Collection Guides online. They
are at http://www.mohistory.org/content/LibraryAndResearch/Archives.aspx and Mercantile Library of the UMStL Founded by civic leaders and philanthropists in 1846, the Mercantile Library is the oldest cultural institution in St. Louis and the first library established west of the Mississippi. Its collection contains both primary and secondary sources. They have several unique collections. the John W. Barriger III collection focuses on American railroad history. The Herman T. Pott collection focuses on U.S. Rivers and inland waterway history. They hold the St. Louis Globe-Democrat newspaper "morgue," which contains a variety separate articles were cut out and filed by the newspaper between the 1920s and 1980s. The online index is available at http://www.umsl.edu/mercantile/special_collections/directory/slma-112.html Additional special collections are shown at http://www.umsl.edu/mercantile/special_collections/directory/directory-alpha.html . This is a unique collection of primary source documents that impact on the state or region. This collection began in 1943 and has expanded from the original location in Columbia to the three other campuses of the University of Missouri. Due to space considerations some collections may be stored offsite, so contact the facility before you go. The St. Louis Collection covers the history and records of the St. Louis, St. Charles area. The Rolla Collection covers the history of southern Missouri and the Ozark area. Major holdings include the records of the St. Louis-San Francisco ("Frisco") Railway Company, the St. Joe Minerals Corporation, and the American Zinc, Lead & Smelting Company. |
| Outside The St. Louis Area: |
St.
Charles City & County Library This is a special of collection dealing with genealogy, St. Charles, St. Louis, and Missouri. They have some city directories for O'Fallon, St. Charles, and St. Louis Censuses, 1830-1880 Censuses. Some notable items include the Special Schedules for 1890 of Union Veterans and widows of the Civil War and the Agriculture, Mortality, and Manufacturing Schedules for 1850 – 1880. State Historical Society of Missouri Founded in 1898 by the Missouri Press Association. The Society has two distinct areas, the reference library http://www.umsystem.edu/shs/reference.html and the newspaper library http://www.umsystem.edu/shs/newspaper.html . The reference library houses over 450,000 volumes, ranging printed minutes of public offices to county histories, atlases, city directories, compiled family histories, published indexes or abstracts of many county records such as births, deaths, marriages, probate, and cemeteries. A unique finding aid is the Missouri Surname Index of over half a million names provides citations to biographies in early Missouri county histories and to selected biographical items in newspapers, periodicals, vertical files, and books. The newspaper library has Missouri newspapers dating from 1808 to the present. Many of the newspapers are preserved in over thirty-five million pages of microfilm. Their publication of Missouri Newspapers on Microfilm at the State Historical Society is available in print format as well as online at http://www.umsystem.edu/shs/newspapercatalog/catalogmap.shtml . You may request the microfilm into a local library that participates in interlibrary loan.One finding aid is their Newspaper Card File that lists articles from various mid-region counties. They also have the Missouri Federal Population Census and the Missouri Federal Non-Population Schedules such as Agriculture, Manufacturing, and Mortality. Missouri State Archives Mid-Continent Public Library Kansas City Public Library The Special Collections Department collects, preserves, and provides access to numerous types of resources pertaining to the history of the Kansas City Metropolitan Area, Genealogy, the Civil War, and Western Americana. |
Addresses / Libraries / Home / Classes / Lectures / About Pat
© 1999 - 2005 Patricia Walls Stamm, CGRS All rights reserved