Genealogy Research by U.S. State

The 2019 United States list

This is a great resource once you feel you have exhausted the big online directories and need a few more places to search for that elusive ancestor. It is interesting how some states have many great guides to genealogy in their state and other states we struggled to find just one good guide. Generally, most of these guides were hosted by state libraries, genealogical societies, state archives, state universities, the Secretary of State’s website, some smaller libraries, large genealogy centers, or historical societies.

If you know of another fantastic guide that we missed on the list, leave it in the comments below and we will investigate.

Try not to get discouraged by the fact that many of these resources can only be accessed at the library or online with a library card and password. This is a great opportunity to check out a genealogist in our directory to see if they can do the lookup for you. Another resource that is available is the USGenWeb Project. Although at one time this was the best place to search by state, many of the links are outdated or broken. Still, there are many good links and information to check.

Alabama

• The Birmingham Public Library‘s genealogy guide.
• The Mobile Public Library‘s genealogy guide.

Alaska

• The Alaska State Archives Genealogy guide.
• The Alaska State Library‘s Genealogy guide.

Arizona

• The Arizona State Library‘s guide to online resources.

Arkansas

• Family Search’s Wiki Arkansas resources guide.

California

• The California Genealogical Society‘s list of state resources.
• The California State Library‘s list of genealogy resources.

Colorado

• The Denver Public Library‘s Guide to genealogy.
• The Colorado Genealogical Society‘s Guide to state resources.

Connecticut

• The Connecticut State Library‘s History & Genealogy Reference guide.

Delaware

• The Delaware Historical Society‘s Collections and Research guide.
• The University of Delaware‘s guide to genealogical research.

Florida

• The Florida Department of State‘s genealogy resources.

Georgia

• The State of Georgia Archives records guide.
• The Middle Georgia Archives

Hawaii

• The University of Hawaii‘s guide to Native Hawaiian information sources.
• The State of Hawaii‘s Genealogy Research guide.
• The Ulukau Hawaiian Electronic Library‘s Index.

Idaho

• The Boise Public Library‘s Research and learning for genealogy resources.
• The Idaho State Historical Society‘s guide to archives and genealogy.

Illinois

• The Newberry Library‘s genealogy and local history guide.
• The Illinois Secretary of State‘s guide to genealogical resources.
• The Illinois Genealogical Society‘s guide.

Indiana

• The Indiana State Library‘s genealogy collection.
• The Indiana State Library‘s database resources.
• The Allen County Public Library‘s Genealogy Center.

Iowa

• The Des Moines Public Library‘s guide to genealogical resources.
• The Iowa Heritage Digital Collections lists large resource sites.

Kansas

• The Lawrence Public Library‘s genealogy and local history guide.
• The Midwest Genealogy Center has many resources outlined in this online guide.

Kentucky

• The Kentucky Virtual Library (KVL) guide to online Kentucky Resources.
• The Lexington Public Library‘s local history and genealogy guide.
• The Louisville Free Public Library‘s guide to genealogy resources and internet links.

Louisiana

• The State Library of Lousiana‘s genealogy guide.
• The Louisiana Secretary of State‘s Historical records guide.
• This is Southeastern Louisiana University‘s guide to online free databases.

Maine

• The Maine State Library‘s guide to researching genealogy.
• The Maine Historical Society‘s genealogy research guide.

Maryland

• The Enoch Pratt Free Library‘s guide to genealogical research.
• The State Archives for Maryland has a family historian resource guide.

Massachusetts

• The Massachusetts State website guide for genealogical research.
• The Massachusetts Archives guide for research.

Michigan

• The Library of Michigan‘s guide to genealogy research.
• The University of Michigan‘s genealogy research guide.

Minnesota

• The Minnesota Historical Society‘s Family History and Genealogy research guide.
• The University of Minnesota has this genealogy research guide.

Mississippi

• The Mississippi Department of Archives & History‘s guide to genealogy.
• The Jackson-George Regional Library System gives a comprehensive guide for resources in Mississippi.

Missouri

• The Midwest Genealogy Center has many resources outlined in this online guide.
• The St. Louis County Library has a history and genealogy guide.

Montana

• The Montana State website‘s guide to exploring the past.
• The Lewis & Clarke Library has a guide for genealogy resources.
• The Missoula Public Library has a full guide for researching in Montana.

Nebraska

• The Nebraska State Historical Society Library and Archives guide.
• The Omaha Public Library genealogy guide to resources.
• The NebraskAccess site has a complete list of genealogy sources.

Nevada

• The Nevada State Archives and Public Records guide on local resources
• The Henderson Libraries in Nevada has a guide to state research.

New Hampshire

• The New Hampshire State Library has a list of local and online resources.
• The Keen Public Library in New Hampshire has a listing of state-wide resources.

New Jersey

• The New Jersey Digital Highway‘s guide to researching your family history.
• The New Jersey State Library‘s research guide for genealogy.

New Mexico

• The New Mexico Genealogical Society has this online guide.
• The Public Library of Albuquerque and Bernalillo Counties Genealogical Resources.

New York

• The New York State Archives Genealogy Resources guide.
• Genealogical Research at the New York Public Library.

North Carolina

• The State Library of North Carolina has this online research guide.

North Dakota

• State Historical Society of North Dakota lists resources available.
• The North Dakota State University Archives guide.

Ohio

• The Ohio History Connection has this guide to its Archives.

Oklahoma

• Oklahoma’s Historical Society’s Genealogical Research

Oregon

• Oregon’s Secretary of State hosts the Archives guide.
• The Multnomah County Library hosts an online genealogy guide

Pennsylvania

• The Historical Society of Pennsylvania host this guide to available resources.
• The State Library of Pennsylvania has this genealogy guide.

Rhode Island

• The New England Historic Genealogical Society has a guide to Rhode Island research.

South Carolina

• SCIWAY is a listing of South Carolina’s online databases.
• The SCGen has online records listing by county.

South Dakota

• South Dakota State Historical Society.
• South Dakota Birth Record Search.

Tennessee

• The Tennessee GenWeb Project (TNGenWeb) has a guide by county.

Texas

• Texas State Library and Archives Commission

Utah

•  This library is also associated with FamilySearch.org
• The Utah Administrative Records Service has a “Family History” online guide.

Vermont

• The Vermont State Archives and Records Administration site guide for research.

Virginia

• The Library of Virginia has a “Best Resources for Research by Time Period” site.

Washington

• The Secretary of State’s Legacy Washington website has a guide called “Genealogical Resources.”

West Virginia

• The West Virginia Archives & History Guide

Wisconsin

• The Wisconsin Historical Society Guide to searching online records in the cheese state.
• Badgerlink: Wisconsin’s Online Library Listing of the largest genealogical databases available.
• HeritageQuest Online: Over a Billion records in this database.

Wyoming

• Genealogy Trails has a great guide to resources in Wyoming. It’s very thorough.