Genealogical Research in Government Documents: Web Resources
This guide tells how to use Federal Depository Library collections for genealogical research
Federal and State Documents for Genealogical Research on the Web
- Bureau of Land Management, General Land Office Records Site provides access to over 5 million federal land conveyance records from 1820-present. Click on “Search Documents” in menu bar.
- Immigration records – Ellis Island Foundation, Inc.
- U.S. Geographic Names Information System -- Use this when you see a place name in genealogical records, and need to know where it was.
- Hathi Trust -- Over 10 million digitized books including government documents. Free and fully searchable for names and phrases. There is no proximity searching yet. For example, here is one such resource.
- Official List of Officers of the Officer's Reserve Corps of the Army of the United States published 1920. This source provides the names, addresses and dates of birth of officers as of 1920 with dates of birth as far back as the 1870s.
- National Archives and Records Administration
- Census online
- Public records online -- Link list to county databases which include birth, marriage, death, military, cemetery, and other records.
- Missouri Secretary of State, Local Records Inventory Database
- College and University archives -- If your ancestor attended an institution which is still in existence, check to see if it has a website with name searching. For example, the University of Missouri yearbooks from 1891-2005 are searchable online.
Govt Documents Coordinator
