Collections
American Ancestors has been collecting information about families in America since 1845. Our collections are international in scope and contain significant materials for Canada and Europe. A summary of library collections is below.
| Resource | Description | Location in Library |
|---|
| Published Genealogies | 30,000 titles covering families in America, Canada, Europe, and around the world. | 7th Floor |
| Local Histories and Records | 40,000 state, county, and town histories and record collections covering all U.S. states, eastern Canadian provinces, West Indies, and Europe. | 5th Floor |
| Genealogical Journals and Periodicals | 4,500 titles, including core journals such as The American Genealogist and The New York Genealogical and Biographical Record, plus 700 other current journals, magazines, and newsletters from around the world, focusing on surnames, geographic areas, or general genealogy topics. | 5th and 7th Floors |
| Reference Works | Compilations, study projects, finding aids, and how-to guides. | 1st, 4th, 5th, and 7th Floors |
| Rare Books | 12,000 rare genealogies (many with author annotations), church records, local and military histories, heraldic works, and atlases. | 7th Floor (requests) |
| Records on Microform | - New England: vital records, census records, court records, city directories, newspapers, and pre-1906 naturalizations.
- Canadian: records for Québec, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island, including vital records, deeds, census records to 1901, and parish registers.
- Irish: Griffiths Valuation, Tithe Applotment Books, and Ordnance Survey maps.
- Portuguese/Azorean: Catholic parish registers and civil records of the Azores islands of Portugal, consisting of birth, baptism, marriage, and death records from the 16th to 19th centuries.
- Scottish: parish register index.
- English: city directories and parish registers.
| 7th Floor (requests) |
| Manuscripts | More than 28 million original documents and objects, including family papers, diaries, account books, family Bibles, church records, cemetery transcriptions, photographs, and other items dating back over four hundred years. | 5th Floor (requests) |
American Ancestors is an authorized Affiliate Library of FamilySearch. Record collections on the FamilySearch.org website which are restricted to Affiliate Libraries may be viewable by visitors at the American Ancestors Research Center.
Database Access
As a library patron working within our building, you have free access to a number of subscription-based, online databases. Links to the databases listed below can be found on the welcome screen of each computer in the library. American Ancestors members who are logged into AmericanAncestors.org can also access some of these databases from home.
19th Century U.S. Newspapers
Full text and images from hundreds of newspapers across the U.S. throughout the 1800s. Includes birth, death, and marriage notices.
AmericanAncestors.org
American Ancestors databases—including vital, probate, cemetery, church, and other records for New England, New York, and beyond; the New England Historical & Genealogical Register, The American Genealogist, The Virginia Genealogist, and other periodicals. Learn More
American Ancestors Library Catalog
Catalog of books, periodicals, manuscripts, microfilm, CDs, and other resources held by the Brim-DeForest Library, including links to digital resources which may be accessed from home.
Ancestry.com
Census, vital, military, immigration, family-tree, newspaper, city-directory, and court records, primarily for the U.S., Canada, and U.K. Also includes Swedish church records.
ArkivDigital
A resource for Swedish genealogy which includes historical documents such as church records, court records and inventory of estates. (Please note: This database has a limited number of simultaneous users.)
Boston Globe (1980—Present)
Access to full text of the Boston Globe from 1980. Includes a simple obituary search.
Digital Collections at American Ancestors
Contains digitized collections from the American Jewish Historical Society – New England Archives (Jewish Heritage Center) and the Library and R. Stanton Avery Special Collections at American Ancestors. The digital collections include letters, diaries, photographs, newspapers, business records, organizational records, and other materials for historians and genealogists.
Early American Newspapers, Series I, 1690-1876
Over one million pages of fully-searchable early newspapers, such as the Boston Gazette, New-York Evening Post, and many more. Includes marriage, death, and court records.
Familysearch.org
Records from countries worldwide, including the U.S., Canada, Mexico, U.K., Ireland, and many more.
FindMyPast
This world edition of FindMyPast contains historical records covering England, Wales, Scotland, Ireland, United States, Australia, New Zealand, and other parts of the world. Includes UK census, vital and parish records, Griffith’s valuation for Ireland, and National Wills index. Also includes the PERSI index of periodicals, containing full text of many titles.
Fold3
U.S. military records from the Revolutionary War to Vietnam eras.
Gale Databases
Includes Biography in Context, Massachusetts History Online, and general interest and academic databases.
TheGenealogist
Offers core and unique records for the U. K. including: National Tithe Record Collection, Non-Conformist and Non-Parochial Records, Peerage and Heraldry resources, and voter rolls. Other records include Griffith’s Valuation for Ireland, Land Owner Records for Scotland, 1841-1911 Channel Island Census and directories. (Please note: this database has a limited number of simultaneous users.)
Genealogy Quebec
A source for Quebec and French-Canadian genealogy research spanning from 1621 to the present, from the Drouin Institute.
Godfrey Scholar
Features content from the Godfrey Memorial Library collection, including Connecticut cemetery, church, and funeral-home records and the American Genealogical-Biographical Index (AGBI).
HistoryGeo.com
Interactive maps and data on original landowners from Public Land States and Texas. Also includes a collection of historical maps.
Irish Ancestors
Created by John Grenham, aims to provide a single reference source for any records needed to research Irish Ancestors, as well as being a starting point for those with a surname historically found in Ireland. Search by surname, placename and ancestor's name is available. (Please note: This database has a limited number of simultaneous users.)
Irish Newspaper Archives
Through the Irish Newspaper Archive you will find a large collection of Irish newspapers from 1738 to current day. The archive consists of over 6 million images of pages of newspaper content from titles North and South of the Irish border, and includes newspaper obituaries, and birth, death and marriage notices.
The Jewish Advocate (1905-1990), (1991-Current)
The primary newspaper for the Jewish communities of Greater Boston and New England.
Wyner Family Jewish Heritage Center at American Ancestors Digital Collections
The Wyner Family Jewish Heritage Center at American Ancestors is a resource for exploring and preserving the histories of Jewish families and institutions in New England and beyond. Their digital archive includes more than 1.2 million documents from the American Jewish Historical Society – New England Archives, including the Jewish Community Relations Council, Combined Jewish Philanthropies, Y.M.H.A.-Hecht House, and various family papers.
The Jewish Times, Boston, Mass.
The Jewish Times (alternate titles: Boston Jewish Times, The Jewish Weekly Times) was a weekly paper that ran from 1945 to 1992. It covered much of the same ground as The Jewish Advocate but is another perspective on events impacting the Jewish community. It is also a rich source of information for genealogists.
New York Times (1980-present)
Search the full text of the New York Times.
Newspapers.com
An extensive online database of 3,000+ historical newspapers from the early 1700s into the early 2000s, including regional and local newspapers in the U.S. and other countries.
Parchemin Notarial Database
Contains hundreds of thousands of records from Notarial minutes recorded in early Quebec between 1626 and 1799.
PRDH
The Programme de recherche en démographie historique (PRDH, Research Programme in Historical Demography) includes Québec records for the 17th and 18th centuries, including parish registers, census records, genealogies, and more.
ScotlandsPeople
On the ScotlandsPeople site you have access to a wide range of records kept by the Scottish Government, churches and courts of law.
Expert Staff
Our staff of expert genealogists are available to help you find library resources during your visit. If you have a question needing more in-depth assistance, you can hire a Personal Genealogist for the Day. This service allows you to consult with a genealogist, who will actively research alongside you and is a great opportunity to observe and to learn research methodologies. You are able to submit any family information prior to your appointment and the consulting genealogist will conduct research on your project online over the course of a 3 or 5 hour session. You may also consider hiring a researcher to conduct research on your behalf.
