Finding Materials for Local History and Genealogy

Researchers can find a variety of primary and secondary sources for studying North American local history and genealogy. The following research guide is intended to serve as a starting point for your research.

Finding Primary Sources

The General Catalog uses genre/form terms to make findable thousands sources for local history and genealogy. Researchers can use the following terms:

• City directories 
  Only directories before 1840 are fully cataloged. A checklist of all pre-1876 directories, arranged alphabetically, by the name of the town or city, is available in the reading room.
• College catalogs
• School catalogs
• Genealogies
  Choose the "edit search" button on this search to add a family surname to find specific genealogies.

The following collections contain important primary sources for the study of local history and genealogy.

• Local, county, and state histories
  AAS has over 55,000 local, county, and state histories. The subheading "history" has been appended to many Library of Congress subject headings such as Montana--History.
• Maps 
  The subheading "maps" has been appended to many Library of Congress subject headings such as New London County (Conn.)--Maps.
• Newspapers
  • Paper: Use the Clarence database to determine which issues are available to be consulted in paper format at AAS.
  • Digital: To access newspapers from the collection digitally, use America's Historical Newspapers, a Readex product available at AAS.

If you don't find what you are looking for please email our staff at reference [at] mwa.org (reference[at]mwa[dot]org).

Digital Collections, Research Tools and Projects

The following AAS digital collections and research tools are freely available from anywhere.

• Student, Teacher, and Trustee Database Project, 1800-1900
• Clarence: Newspapers and Periodicals of the American Antiquarian Society
• Farber Gravestone Collection
• Images of Worcester
• Ohio Name Index, 1796-1850
• Photographs of Massachusetts Structures by Harriette Merrifield Forbes

The following project websites are freely available from anywhere.

• Last Seen: Finding Family After Slavery
• Digital Public Library of America
• Digital Commonwealth

The following digital collections are available to researchers who are present at AAS and signed on to AAS networks. Publishers provide separate tools for searching their collections.  Some feature materials not held at AAS. 

• Ancestry Institution 
  Includes over 7,000 genealogies and 14,000 college and school catalogs from AAS.
• American Ancestors (New England Historical Genealogical Society)
• Gale Primary Sources 
  Includes all Gale products available at AAS
• Readex AllSearch 
  Includes all Readex products available at AAS

Fellowship Opportunities

The American Antiquarian Society awards over forty fellowships annually. Fellowships are offered for postdoctoral academics,  advanced graduate students, independent scholars, as well as for creative and performing artists and writers.