Recommended Websites

Ethnic Resources | What’s New in Genealogy

General Websites

Cyndi’s List of Genealogy Sites on the Internet

One of the most popular and acclaimed sites on the Internet offers thousands of links which are categorized and cross referenced in over 100 categories.

Ellis Island

“Ellis Island” is a searchable database of 22 million ship passenger records of those immigrants entering the U.S. through Ellis and the Port of New York, 1892-1924.

Local History and Genealogy Reference Services at the Library of Congress

From the Researcher & Reference Services Division of the Library of Congress, this site provides information on using the Library’s reading rooms, information on genealogical materials available, bibliographies and guides, and links to digital collections.

RootsWeb

Mainly a surname database with hundreds of thousands of names to search for free where one can correspond with others researching the same surname. There are many other links. This site partners with Ancestry.com.

Sanborn Maps at the Library of Congress

In 2017, the Library of Congress (LC) made available approximately 25,000 Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps. These detailed historical documents contain information such as street names, building materials, and property boundaries and are a boon to genealogists, historians, urban planners, and many others. LC will continue to add maps every month until 2020.

USGenWeb Project

A volunteer-maintained site which contains links to Internet websites for genealogical research. The state-based links are comprehensive and particularly useful. It also includes general history links as well.

Vital Records Information United States

This website contains information on how to obtain birth, marriage, divorce, and death records from all states. It also includes websites with information on how to obtain foreign vital records.

Ethnic Resources

African American Genealogy from the Enoch Pratt Free Library in Baltimore

A resource guide for researching African American Genealogy.

AfriGeneas: African Ancestored Genealogy

A site devoted to African American genealogy, to researching African Ancestry in the Americas in particular and to genealogical research and resources in general. It is also an African Ancestry research community featuring the AfriGeneas mail list, the AfriGeneas message boards and daily and weekly genealogy chats.

Slave Biographies: The Atlantic Database Network

Slave Biographies, sponsored by Michigan State University Department of History, is an open access data repository of information on the identities of enslaved people in the Atlantic World. The website includes resources of multiple slave datasets available online for additional research.

Unknown no Longer: A Database of Virginia Slave Names

This database is the latest step by the Virginia Historical Society to increase access to its varied collections relating to Virginians of African descent. Since its founding in 1831, the VHS has collected unpublished manuscripts, a collection that now numbers more than 8 million processed items.

Freedom on the Move

Freedom on the Move is a database of fugitives from North American slavery. Created by a team of researchers, this database collects thousands of “runaway” ads that slave holders posted in order to recover runaway slaves. It will be useful for researchers as well as genealogists.

German Roots

Informative resources for doing German genealogy research with a focus on Americans of German descent.

Irish American History and Heritage

Explore collection items related to Ireland and Irish American history and heritage. Enjoy the music of Ireland with Smithsonian Folkways Recordings.

Irish Genealogy

Official website from the Irish Minister for Culture, Heritage, and Gaeltacht. Research historic records of Births, Marriages and Deaths of the General Register Office.

Italian Genealogy Group

The Italian Genealogy Group is dedicated to promoting Italian family history and genealogy.

Jewish Genealogy

Affiliated with the Museum of Jewish Heritage, the website features thousands of databases, research tools and other resources to help those with Jewish ancestry research and find family members.

Tracing Native American Family Roots

Multiple resources to assist researchers get started in tracing Native American roots. Hosted on the National Indian Law Library website.