Vital Records (Birth, Marriage, Death)
- Where to Write for Vital RecordsInformation about every state and U.S. territory's process and policies for obtaining copies of vital records - and links to where more information can be found.
- Family Search - Ancestral File Includes vital records from other countries. Please click the "i" icon for important information. ALSO: Check out the "Family History Library" links. From Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.
- MA Births, Marriages, & Deaths 1841-1910Search an online database of vital records from the Massachusetts Archives. Be sure to read the instructions.
Sites with Multiple Types of Records
- Genealogical Resources @ Boston National Archives List of available resources at the National Archives' Waltham location; click the "i" icon to see what is available. Some are searchable online; some are on-site only.
- Genealogy/Personal History Records from National ArchivesSearch for records including military, census, land claims, bankruptcy, and passport applications.
- Cyndi's List of Genealogy Sites on the InternetThis directory contains both official and unofficial sources of information; use caution when using information from these websites. There is a lot of specific information on how to find records in other countries.
- New York Times Historical Collection (1851-2004)Search the New York Times from 1851 to 2004. Consider searching by a person's name, or browsing on a certain date.
Research Tips
When searching for records, ask yourself: Who cares? What agency, municipality, or person cares enough about the information you're looking for to keep and organize it? Courts? Historical societies? At the local or national level? This will help you zero in better on a starting point.
Search for multiple spellings of names. Some collections may use the "Soundex" system, which brings together differently spelled names that sound the same. See the National Archives' explanation of Soundex.
Other Places/People to Contact
If you know which state you need your information from, try consulting this list of state libraries and archives, and seeing what records they have available.
If you have a city or county in mind, try Googling that city or county with the words "archives" or "public records" to find a local agency.
Consult a list of "Repositories of Primary Sources" all over the globe (from the University of Idaho).
Also check out "Archives Made Easy," a curated collection of archives by country from the London School of Economics.
The library also owns a reference book called The Genealogist's Address Book, which can help you identify other local and nationality-specific sources.
Suggest a source!
Have you found a great genealogical source? Submit it here and have it added to the guide.
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Immigration Records
- Passenger Manifests - Boston 1848-1891 Searchable database of immigrants who arrived in the port of Boston by ship, from the Massachusetts Archives. The collection is in the process of being digitized; contact the Archives if you don't find the name you're looking for.
- Ellis Island - Advanced Passenger SearchSearch arrivals from 1892-1924 by many parameters, including ethnicity. You can also search "sounds like" variations of last names. Free registration required to view results.
Military Records
- Research in Military Records (National Archives)Information on how to search for and request military records on U.S. service members, as well as links to other military research sites.
- Cyndi's List: Military RecordsA list of sources of military records from many different countries.
Census Records
- How to Search Census Records (NARA)NARA offers different ways to search census records, some offline and some online.
- Cyndi's List: Census - WorldwideLinks to censuses in other countries.
- 1940 Census via ancestry.comFree search (as of March 2013) of the fully indexed 1940 census.
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