National Library Week: Usefulness of a Library Card

 April 23-29 is National Library Week in the United States

In 2010, 2012, 2015, and 2019 I looked at the value of my St. Louis County Library Card with respect to genealogy research. I thought I would do that again.

Here are 30 databases I can use to research genealogy courtesy of my library card. For most of them I can access the database at home, though a few are in-library only. Unfortunately, I don't get to the library very often, as the location closest to me is under construction.

1. A to Z Maps Online
2. A to Z the USA
3. AAS Historical Periodicals Collection
4. Academic Search Elite [EBSCO]
5. Access World News
6. African American History Online
7. African American Newspapers: 19th Century
8. American Ancestors (In Library Only)
9. American Indian History Online
10. Ancestry Library Edition (In Library Only) - Ancestry provided remote access for the first couple years of the pandemic, but they have stopped doing so.
11. Archion (vital records for Protestant churches in Germany)
12. Civil War: A Newspaper Perspective
13. eBooks on EBSCOhost
14. Ethnic NewsWatch [ProQuest]
15. Factiva
16. FindMyPast (In Library Only)
17. Fire Insurance Maps Online (Missouri and Illinois)
18. Fold3
19. HeritageHub (Formerly America’s Obituaries and Death Notices)
20. HeritageQuest Online
21. Historical New York Times (ProQuest)
22. Historical Newspapers US Major Dailies (ProQuest)
23. Historical St Louis Post Dispatch (ProQuest)
24. History Vault: Southern Life, Slavery, and the Civil War 1 & 2
25. MyHeritage Library Edition
26. NewsBank
27. NewspaperArchive
28. Newspapers.com
29. Nineteenth Century US Newspapers
30. ProQuest Digital Microfilm (NYTimes, St. Louis Post Dispatch)

AmericanAncestors, Ancestry, FindMyPast, Fold3, MyHeritage, and Newspapers.com are all major subscription genealogy websites. Having free access to even basic/library versions is excellent.

However - the St. Louis County Library system card is not the only library card I have.

Six months ago I started employment at a local university. 

So now I have access to their databases as well. Here's a selection:

1. Academic Search Complete (1975-present)

2. Adams Papers Digital Edition (Rotunda) (John Adams' papers)

3. African Americans, Communists, and the National Negro Congress (Archives Unbound)

4. African American Newspapers (ProQuest)

5. African American Newspapers: 19th Century

6. Al-Ahram Digital Newspaper Archive (Egyptian newspaper)

7. Amateur Newspapers from the American Antiquarian Society (Archives Unbound)

8. America in Protest: Records of Anti-Vietnam War Organizations, The Vietnam Veterans Against the War (Archives Unbound)

9. America’s Historical Imprints

10. American Civil War: Letters and Diaries

11. American Hebrew and Hebrew Messenger 1867-1922 (New York newspaper weekly)

12. American Historical Periodicals from the American Antiquarian Society

13. American Israelite 1854-2000 (Cincinnati newspaper weekly)

14. American National Biography

15. American Periodicals 1740-1940

16. American Religion: Denominational Newspapers

17. Ancestry Library Edition (Still has Remote Access)

18. Associated Press Collections Online

19. Atlanta Constitution 1868-1945

20. Atlanta Daily World 1931-2000

21. Australian Dictionary of Biography

And that's just a selection of resources starting with the letter A!

The larger someone's family database is, the more it is true:

you never know where someone's name will appear. 

The university has over 1,100 online databases.

I'm finding a lot of interesting things, even though I haven't been writing about them.