Genealogy Resources
Explore your family history with our free online genealogy tools or make an appointment with a genealogy librarian for free assistance.
Level 9 of the Central Library is closed at this time. Some Genealogy Collection materials are available for retrieval to level 3. Please contact us for assistance on accessing the Genealogy Collection.
Online Genealogy Resources
-
Explore early American history to support school assignments, genealogical and local history research, and more. Features more than 1,000 historical newspapers from all 50 states. This database includes early American newspapers previously available in America's Genealogy Bank.
-
Interested in genealogy? We partnered with Ancestry.com to help you search billions of historical documents, photos, oral histories and more, from the 1500s to the present. Remote access ended December 31, 2021.
-
The experience and impact of African Americans as recorded by the news media, including over 400 current and historical Black publications from the 1700s to today.
-
Explore thousands of detailed maps charting the growth and development of Seattle, other Puget Sound communities and more than 12,000 cities and towns across the United States.
-
Search the Family History Library catalog as well as digitized records, which include over 2 million rolls of microform and hundreds of thousands of books and maps related to family history and genealogical research. Account registration required.
-
Explore your family history with this collection of U.S. obituaries and death notices for in-depth genealogical research from 1704 to today. This database includes obituaries previously available in America's Genealogy Bank.
-
Explore these searchable and printable genealogy resources, including local and family histories, research guides and the complete U.S. Federal Census, 1790-1940. Powered by Ancestry.
-
Curious about the past? Find full-text and full-image content from The New York Times, including articles, headlines, ads, obituaries and more. Contains full-text and images in PDF format of the New York Times from 1851 to three years before current year.
-
Search fully digitized editions of The Seattle Post-Intelligencer, and download and print full-text articles. Depending on the issue date, different formats of articles may be available. A partial run of the The Seattle Post-Intelligencer (1901-1935) was purchased with a generous grant from The Seattle Public Library Foundation; however, the full run is currently available until further notice.
-
Search fully digitized editions of The Seattle Times, and download and print full-text articles. Depending on the issue date, different formats of articles may be available. The Seattle Times Historical Archive (1895-1984) is made possible through a generous grant from The Seattle Public Library Foundation.