St. Louis Public Library

United States Missouri  St. Louis City  Archives and Libraries  

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Contact Information
E-mail: [mailto:help@slpl.org help@slpl.org]

Address:


 * Central Library 1301 Olive Street St. Louis, MO 63103

Telephone: 314-241-2288 Fax:  314-539-0393

Hours and holidays: Mon-Thu 10-9; Fri-Sat 10-6; Sun 1-5 (1st floor only); Holidays

Map, parking, and public transportation:


 * MapQuest map:  St. Louis Public Library
 * Central Library Parking
 * Public transportation:  Metro Transit-St. Louis bus routes 10, 32, 41, 74, 94, and 97 stop near the Central Library. The Civic Center MetroBus Center is six blocks (700 yards) south of the Central Library.

Internet sites and databases:


 * St. Louis Public Library card account, calendar, about us, and libraries/hours.
 * For Genealogists obituary search, recent arrivals, passenger lists, family histories, Heritage Quest, and the Gateway Family Historian publication.
 * St. Louis Public Library Catalog online. Search by author, subject, ISBN, title, or call number. Also available in WorldCat.

Collection Description
The St. Louis Public Library has an on-line Obituary Index for the years 1880–1927; 1942–1945; 1992–2006. They also have hundreds of published family histories, passenger lists, and access to the Heritage Quest database. The Gateway Family Historian is published by the Library.

Guides

 * George Gambrill, Genealogical Material and Local Histories in the St. Louis Public Library, Rev. ed. (St. Louis, Missouri: St. Louis Public Library, 1965) ..

Alternate Repositories
If you cannot visit or find a source at the , a similar source may be available at one of the following.

Overlapping Collections


 * Mid-Continent Public Library Midwest Genealogy Center, Independence, a great American genealogy collection: censuses, MO federal land sales, penitentiary, St. Louis fur trade, Civil War, passenger lists, plantations, American Indians, city directories, newspapers, Draper Manuscripts, and KY taxes.
 * National Archives at Kansas City federal censuses 1790–1930; selected military service indexes, pension indexes, passenger lists, naturalizations, photos, adoptions, vital records, land, and Indian records.

Similar Collections


 * Kansas City Public Library Missouri Valley Special Collections, The Missouri Valley Room has a great genealogy collection for Missouri and Kansas with biographies, periodicals, genealogies, diaries, photos, scrapbooks, and newspapers of the Kansas City area.
 * St. Louis County Library, a Missouri collection including the National Genealogical Society, and St. Louis Genealogical Society collections, online databases, federal censuses, births, deaths, cemeteries, church records, military records, naturalizations, newspapers, wills, African American records, yearbooks, and access to LDS microfilms.

Neighboring Collections

 St. Louis CITY offices :  In 1876 St. Louis City separated from St. Louis County, but retained all of the original St. Louis County records prior to 1876.


 * St. Louis City Recorder of Deeds and Vital Records Registrar has births 1825-1909, and 1920-present; marriages 1766-1931; deaths 1825-1960, and 1965-present; land 1877-present; adoptions, cemetery records, French and Spanish colonial records, orphanages, licenses and trademarks, veterans discharges, and will indexes, including county records before 1876.
 * St. Louis City Assessor has real estate and property tax records.
 * St. Louis City 22nd Circuit Court probate records 1804-2000; civil, criminal, and family court.
 * U.S. Customs House, St. Louis, has immigration and naturalization records.

 St. Louis COUNTY offices :


 * St. Louis County Office of Vital Records, Berkeley, has all Missouri births since 1920, St. Louis County only births 1883-1910; all MO deaths since 1980, and St. Louis County only deaths 1883-1910.
 * St. Louis County Clerk, Clayton, has births 1877-1910.
 * St. Louis County Recorder of Deeds, Clayton, has marriages and land records since 1876, and military discharges. Marriage, court, and land records of St. Louis County prior to 1876 are only available via the St. Louis City Recorder of Deeds and Vital Records Registrar.
 * St. Louis County Circuit Court Clerk, Clayton, has court records since 1876, and divorces.
 * St. Louis County Probate Court, Clayton, has probate records and an online index.
 * St. Louis County Office of the Medical Examiner, St. Louis, has selected death records.

 Mixed City and County of St. Louis repositories :


 * Clayton Historical Society, Clayton, collects artifacts and documents.
 * Concordia Historical Institute, St. Louis, Department of Archives and History of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod.
 * Episcopal Diocese of Missouri Archives, St. Louis, a library, extensive document and photograph collections, and parish registers.
 * German American Heritage Society of St. Louis exploring and preserving heritage.
 * Missouri History Museum Library, St. Louis, has regional history sources, St. Louis, Missouri, the Mississippi and Missouri Valleys, the Louisiana Purchase, American West: indexes, guides, catalogs, photos, genealogy workshops. Many records of Missouri settlers from Illinois.
 * National Personnel Records Center (NPRC), St. Louis, federal government employee and military personnel records starting 1917.
 * Roman Catholic Archdiocese of St. Louis Office of Archives and Records parish christenings, confirmations, marriages, and deaths.
 * St. Louis African American History and Genealogy Society collects, preserves, and publishes genealogical and historical records.
 * St. Louis Genealogical Society has a collection of 20,000 books, journals, maps, and CDs at the St. Louis County Library (previous).
 * St. Louis Mercantile Library, early newspapers, railroads, inland waterways, county records, biographies, and genealogies. A premier library for Missouri research.
 * St. Louis Missouri Family History Center has premium online services for free, can offer research suggestions, and can order genealogical microfilms from the Family History Library in Salt Lake City.
 * Saul Brodsky Jewish Community Library, St. Louis, comprehensive source for Judaica. 23,000 books.
 * U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Missouri, St. Louis, civil/criminal/bankruptcy court records.

 Outside of St. Louis :


 * Repositories in surrounding counties in Missouri:  Franklin, Jefferson, St. Charles, St. Louis County, Independent City:  St. Louis City, counties in Illinois: Madison, Monroe, and St. Clair
 * Community of Christ Library and Archives, Independence, books, periodicals, letters, and diaries of the of the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints/Community of Christ.
 * Missouri Bureau of Vital Records, Jefferson City, central registry of Missouri births and deaths since 1910; marriages and divorces since 1948.
 * Missouri State Archives, Jefferson City, has court, land, military, death records, federal censuses, county and municipal records, photos, penitentiary, and manuscript records. Birth and death record index since 1883 is online; birth records 1883-1895; marriages 1827-1937.
 * Missouri United Methodist Archives, Fayette, historical materials on Methodism in Missouri emphasizing ministers.
 * Ozarks Genealogical Society Library, Springfield, has Missouri and other states, a large periodical collection, and special southern Missouri family records.
 * Springfield-Greene County Library Center, for southern Missouri: censuses, church histories, directories, Civil War, online deaths 1910-1958, births, marriages, land, probate, cemeteries.
 * State Historical Society of Missouri, Columbia, census, maps, newspapers, online tools, oral history, photos, historical manuscripts, and reference materials.
 * Wilson's Creek National Battlefield Library, Republic, find ancestors who served in the U.S. Civil War.

 Outside of Missouri :


 * Repositories in surrounding states: Arkansas, Iowa, Illinois, Kansas, Kentucky, Nebraska, Oklahoma, and Tennessee.
 * Harrison County Historical Museum, Marshall TX, a key repository for Missouri  and Texas settlers. A major center for MO Confederates. Family folders, books, letters, diaries, journals, surname lists.
 * Newberry Library, Chicago, genealogies, local histories, censuses, military, land, indexes, vital records, court, and tax records mostly from the Mississippi Valley, eastern seaboard, Canada, and Britain.