Genealogy

The History & Genealogy Library offers resources for beginner, intermediate, and advanced genealogists. Discover your family history or find the answer to a tough genealogical research challenge.

Our local resources include city and telephone directories; high school and college yearbooks; family and county histories; Sonoma County census records; voter registrations and tax assessments; guides to local historic cemeteries and other places of genealogical interest; and a large collection of indexes to birth, marriage, and death records, wills and probate files, as well as court and naturalization records.

Regionally, you can find genealogy indexes to neighboring counties such as Lake, Mendocino, and Marin, as well as genealogical information pertaining to the state of California. The History & Genealogy Library also carries the newsletters of various local and regional genealogical societies and several of the major national periodicals such as the National Genealogical Society Quarterly and the New England Historic Genealogical Society (NEHGS) American Ancestors.

The national genealogy print collection is browsable by state with notable series such as The Barbour Collection of Connecticut Town Vital Records, the Encyclopedia of American Quaker Genealogy, and Magna Carta Ancestry. State, county, and town-wide indexes to vital, cemetery, church, land, court, and probate records as well as lineage society publications can be accessed on open shelves.

International print materials include series on European emigration to the United States and Canada, passenger lists and immigration records, parish registers, historical map books, atlases and gazetteers, as well as many country-specific reference books.

Practical guides cover a broad range of topics such as DNA testing and genetic genealogy, adoption research, and handbooks specifically relating to a country or ethnic group. You will also find information on how to date historical photographs, use historical newspaper content, conduct cemetery field research, and much more.

Online Resources

See the full list of online resources for genealogical research.

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