Genealogical Society of Pennsylvania

The Genealogical Society of Pennsylvania

Contact Information
The Genealogical Society of Pennsylvania 2100 Byberry Road, Suite 111 Philadelphia, PA 19116

Phone  (267) 686-2296

Email info@genpa.org

Website genpa.org

Facebook facebook.com/GenealogicalSocietyofPennsylvania

Twitter twitter.com/genealogypa

History of the Society
The Genealogical Society of Pennsylvania (GSP) is a non-profit educational institution located at 2100 Byberry Road, Suite 111, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19116. Founded in 1892, GSP is one of the earliest genealogical societies in the United States, and among the first to recognize the value of collecting and preserving the vital and personal records of people whose lives comprise much of our American history.

The Genealogical Society of Pennsylvania mission is to provide leadership and support in promoting genealogy through education, preservation, and access to Pennsylvania-related genealogical information. GSP is committed to preserving and publishing previously unpublished primary sources and to helping people to research family history. The continuing dedication to this service enables the Society to make an increasingly significant contribution to the cultural life of our city, state, and country.

Concentrating primarily in Pennsylvania and its adjoining states, but also including immigration into and out of Pennsylvania, GSP has collections that have been indexed and digitized on its website as well as collections at its office that have not yet been indexed or digitized. Included are church registers, funeral, cemetery, and family Bible records, family papers and correspondence, as well as published genealogies, town and county histories, and periodicals. A loyal corps of GSP volunteers continues to index records of churches and cemeteries as past volunteers have done. In recent years, volunteers also have been scanning records, running them through optical character recognition software, and uploading them to the website, along with processing collections and cataloging books for our library.

Publications
The Genealogical Society of Pennsylvania (GSP) is proud to provide a wide variety of publications to both members and non-members. The Society produces a free digital newsletter, full of content revelant for all genealogists. In the past, GSP has published the Pennsylvania Genealogical Magazine (PGM), and a quarterly newsletter, Penn in Hand. Past issues of the digital newsletter and Penn in Hand are available for free on their website. Issues of the Pennsylvania Genealogical Magazine are available to members online.

Events
The Genealogical Society of Pennsylvania (GSP) hosts a free webinar each Third Thursday of every month. GSP also holds virtual full-day or two-day seminars and conferences. The Society is active at genealogy conferences, both virtual and in-person. For more information on programs and events, visit the webpage for Programs and Events.

Benefits
The society offers a variety of benefits for its members, including
 * Access to databases in the "Member Collections" area of GSP's website
 * Access to past issues of the Pennsylvania Genealogical Magazine (PGM) and Penn in Hand (former newsletter)
 * Access to recorded presentations
 * Free admission to GSP Library
 * Free reference consulations
 * Discount on GSP-sponsored events
 * First Families of Pennsylvania — open to any GSP member who can prove descent from a Pennsylvania resident
 * GSP memberships are based on the date of joining and not the calendar year

In addition, GSP offers many free databases on its website that non-members can access.