St. Louis County Library

United States Missouri  St. Louis  Archives and Libraries  

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Contact Information
E-mail: [mailto:genealogy@slcl.org genealogy@slcl.org]

Address:


 * St. Louis County Library Headquarters Tier 5 (top floor) 1640 S. Lindbergh Blvd. St. Louis, MO 63131

Telephone: 314-994-3300, ext. 2070

Hours and holidays: Monday-Thursday 9-9 ; Friday-Saturday 9-5 ; Sunday 1-5; closed on legal holidays--see Holiday closings

Map, parking, and public transportation:


 * Google map:  St. Louis County Library
 * Parking:  The library has a large, free, well-lit parking lot.
 * Public transportation:  Metro Transit-St. Louis bus route 48 South Lindbergh stops next to the St. Louis County Library. Route 58 Clayton Ballas stops about 600 feet to the north on Clayton Rd.

Internet sites and databases:


 * St. Louis County Library History and Genealogy holdings, visits, security, finding aids, databases, e-newsletter, publications, forms, look-ups, and services.
 * St. Louis County Library Catalog online. Search by keyword, author, title, subject, call number, periodical, or ISBN.

Collection Description
The St. Louis County Library genealogical collection has 85,000 print items, 9,500 family histories, 850 periodical titles, 40,000 microfilm rolls, and many electronic databases. Their emphasis is on St. Louis, Missouri, and states and foreign countries that fed migration into Missouri, including New England states, the 13 colonies, and many foreign countries. Military history, African American, and other ethnic sources are well represented. Record types include online databases, federal censuses, births, marriages, deaths, cemeteries, church records, military records, naturalizations, newspapers, wills, African American records, and yearbooks.

They also have collections from the National Genealogical Society, the St. Louis Genealogical Society, the African American Research Collection, the Jewish Genealogical Society, the Archdiocese of St. Louis parish records, and from the Archdiocese of Belleville, Illinois.

Significant miscellaneous items include 850 microfilms from parish registers of the Swiss Canton of Bern, over 100 Jewish Yizkor books, and sources for Maine, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, New England, and some rare English, Welsh, and Scottish genealogies.

Tips

 * Tours. Public tours of the department are given on the first Wednesday and third Saturday of each month at 10:30 a.m.
 * Tier 4. Many genealogy books are shelved on Tier 4, an area that is normally closed to the public. The area is opened to the public on the third Saturday and Sunday of each month. Materials on Tier 4 are available for use at other times upon request.
 * Computer access. There is a 30-minute time limit on the public computers if others are waiting. Photo I.D. is required for using public computers. Free wireless access to the system is also available for personal computers.
 * Microfilm readers. 12 microfilm readers are available for use. All readers are attached to a printer, and most are able to scan and save images electronically. Use is limited to one hour if other people are waiting.
 * Book copying and scanning. A coin-operated photocopier is available to make paper copies and can be used as a flat-bed scanner. An overhead book scanner allows scanning to an electronic file.

Guides

 * Online guide to St. Louis sources in the History and Genealogy Department general, births, cemeteries, census, church records, deaths, Local History Index, maps, microfilm, military, miscellaneous, naturalizations, newspapers, wills, and yearbooks.
 * Finding Aids by Topic 72 guides.
 * Guides to various subjects in the collection can be downloaded as PDFs.

Alternate Repositories
If you cannot visit or find a source via 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 I, Washington DC, census, pre-WWI military service &amp; pensions, passenger lists, naturalizations, passports, federal bounty land, homesteads, bankruptcy, ethnic sources, prisons, and federal employees.
 * 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


 * State Historical Society of Missouri, Columbia, census, maps, newspapers, online tools, oral history, photos, historical manuscripts, and reference materials.

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.
 * 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 and can offer research guidance.
 * St. Louis Public Library has an Obituary Index for the years 1880–1927; 1942–1945; 1992–2006, family histories, passenger lists, Heritage Quest, and Gateway Family Historian publication.
 * 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.
 * 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.
 * 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.
 * 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.