Links to a curated list of free resources I use in my own genealogy and historical research. Some bloggers refer to lists like this as a “research toolbox” or a “digital toolbox”. Whatever you call it, I believe you will find something of value for your own research.

Charts & Forms
https://www.archives.gov/research/genealogy/charts-forms
The US National Archives makes a host of free charts and forms for genealogists available for download at the above link. Especially helpful if you cannot figure out what that column is for on an old census schedule. Have a look.

1800-1840 Census Comparison Form
http://www.kytnresearch.com/uploads/1/0/7/9/10790949/pre1850_form_2008rev.pdf
Downloadable form shared by noted genealogical researcher and educator J. Mark Lowe of Kentucky – Tennessee Research Associates

Citations

Chicago Manual of Style Online
http://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/home.html
The quintessential guide for students, researchers, and writers in a variety of disciplines is now online, including the full contents of the 15th & 16th editions.
Find the Quick Guide here.

Evidence Explained
https://www.evidenceexplained.com/
Elizabeth Shown Mills, the author of Evidence Explained, clarifies source citations for genealogists and historians by offering models for a variety of record types. The revised third edition of this essential reference was released in early 2017. The forums should be required reading for all genealogists.

Citations: A Guide to Creating Proper Source Citations
St. Louis Genealogical Society
https://stlgs.org/resources/on-this-site/citations-a-guide-to-creating-proper-source-citations#citationlist
An easy-to-use citation guide, with examples

Federal Records

1790-1890 Federal Population Censuses
Catalog of NARA Microfilm
http://www.archives.gov/research/census/publications-microfilm-catalogs-census/1790-1890/index.html
Find microfilm roll numbers for the U.S. census for source citations

1950 United States Census
https://1950census.archives.gov/
The official NARA website of the 1950 census opened for free use by researchers, demographers, historians, and the merely curious on 1 Apr 2022. A name index is being generated by AI and OCR technologies. Volunteers can correct machine transcriptions where necessary. 

Bureau of Land Management (BLM)
General Land Office
http://glorecords.blm.gov/
Federal land records for the 30 Public Land States, searchable by name

A History of the Rectangular Survey System by C. Albert White
https://www.blm.gov/sites/blm.gov/files/histrect.pdf
A comprehensive work detailing the backstory of the public land surveys in America and the legislation underlying those surveys.

Federal Statutes : A Century of Lawmaking For a New Nation
https://memory.loc.gov/ammem/amlaw/
A key site for research into Federal statutes up to about 1875

Federal Statutes : Library of Congress Law (Statutes at Large)
https://loc.gov/law/help/statutes-at-large/
Comprehensive site with laws passed by the U.S. Congress between 1789-1951 in searchable PDF format.

Federal Tract Books (FamilySearch Wiki Entry)
https://www.familysearch.org/wiki/en/Tract_Books#Federal_tract_books_1820-1908
3,907 tract books exist for 28 of the 30 public land states, documenting the transfer of public lands to private citizens or entities. Sadly, the tract books for Missouri are not among them.

Guide to Federal Records in the National Archives
http://www.archives.gov/research/guide-fed-records/index.html
Search the web version of the guide by keyword or Record Group (RG) number

Integrated Public Use Microdata Series (IPUMS-USA)
http://usa.ipums.org/usa/
The University of Minnesota Population Center collects and preserves data and instructions regarding the decennial United States Federal Census.

NARA Reference Reports
http://www.archives.gov/research/genealogy/reference-reports.html
When you visit the National Archives in person, they have helpful brochures on a variety of topics of interest to genealogists to get you started working in Federal records. Now you can download the brochures in PDF format. Topics include census, immigration, military records research, African American, and Native American research.

United States Census Tutorial
http://census.byu.edu/project_files/xml/page0.xml
This BYU tutorial will orient genealogists to use of the Federal census schedules from 1790-1940. Blank forms are included on the site for download.

Military

Historical Record and Dictionary of the United States Army (Heitman, 1903)
https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/000334097

Revolutionary War
1841 Census of Pensioners for Revolutionary or Military Service

Ancestry.com: “Planting Your Family Tree in the American Revolution“
PDF download shows you how to use their records to find your Revolutionary War soldier.

Pension Files
https://catalog.archives.gov/id/300022
The United States National Archives now has 82,981 pension files online in whole or in part from RG15, including illustrated family records (Fraktur).

Loyalists
New Brunswick (Canada) Provincial Archives “Old Soldiers Records”
http://archives.gnb.ca/Search/OldSoldiers/Default.aspx?culture=en-CA
American Loyalists who went to Canada following the Revolutionary War. Read the intro for background information.

The Loyalist Collection
https://loyalist.lib.unb.ca/home
Primary documents generated by those supporting the British side of the conflict 

War of 1812
https://www.fold3.com/title/761/war-of-1812-pension-files/
83% of the 180,000 pension files for survivors and widows of the War of 1812 have been digitized thus far, and are available to the public at no charge. The index now covers surnames A through N for most states.

War of 1812 Discharge Certificates
http://www.archives.gov/research/military/war-of-1812/1812-discharge-certificates/discharge-certificates.html
Approximately 2,200 discharge certificates for Regular Army soldiers in the War of 1812 survive and are part of M1856 at NARA. Read more about the collection here.

Mexican War
https://www.nps.gov/paal/index.htm
A  project of FGS and the Palo Alto Battlefield National Historic Park to document the 130,000 US soldiers who participated in the conflict. 

Civil War

Barnard & Gardner Civil War Photographs
https://repository.duke.edu/dc/barnardgardner
Both works by George Barnard and Alexander Gardner, originally published in 1866, are newly available online through the David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library at Duke University.

Center for Civil War Photography
http://www.civilwarphotography.org/

Civil War Glass Negatives and Related Prints
https://www.loc.gov/pictures/collection/cwp/
Library of Congress image collection digitized from original glass plate negatives.

Civil War Soldiers and Sailors System (CWSS)
http://www.nps.gov/civilwar/soldiers-and-sailors-database.htm
Maintained by the National Park Service, this site has over 6 million entries for Civil War soldiers who served both the Union and the Confederacy. It also contains listings for 18,000 African American sailors who participated in the conflict.

World War I
https://www.loc.gov/topics/world-war-i
The Library of Congress has launched a World War I collections portal, with digitized versions of posters, photos, manuscripts, maps, sound recordings, sheet music, etc.
Trench maps are here:
McMaster: http://library.mcmaster.ca/maps/ww1/home
National Library of Scotland: http://maps.nls.uk/ww1/trenches/

State-Level Research and Repositories

ACPL State and Subject Snapshots
http://www.genealogycenter.org/Pathfinders/Snapshots.aspx
The Genealogy Center at the Allen County Public Library in Fort Wayne, Indiana has made available research guides for every state, essentially bibliographies of books on a particular topic with ACPL call numbers. If you find a title of interest and are not at ACPL, check WorldCat to find other repositories.

FamilySearch Research Wiki
https://www.familysearch.org/wiki/en/Main_Page
It may not look like much from the main page, but there is a wealth of information on a variety of genealogy topics at this site. If you are researching in a new geographic area, make this one of your first stops to learn what records may be available. Start here if you are new to using wikis.

Online State Resources for Genealogy
http://onlinestateresources.wordpress.com/
Blog by Michael Hait, CG, author of an e-book with the same title. The 2013 publication featured more than 9,000+ links.

California
http://www.sos.ca.gov/archives/trademarks/
California had the earliest trademark law in the United States, pre-dating Federal law by a decade. These logos and product labels were registered with the Secretary of State beginning in 1861. Worth checking out if your ancestor was an early entrepreneur in the West.

Kansas: State Historical Society
http://www.kshs.org/
A must-visit repository, whether you are doing Kansas research online, or on-site in Topeka. Check out plat books here. The Fraternal Order Death Index is here.

Kentucky
Kentucky Ancestors
https://history.ky.gov/for-genealogists/digitized-kentucky-ancestors/
The complete run of the Kentucky genealogical quarterly published between 1965-2013. Hosted by the Kentucky Historical Society. Link courtesy of Kevin Bingaman.
Kentucky’s Land Office
https://web.sos.ky.gov/land/

Maryland
Baltimore City Archives
http://msa.maryland.gov/bca
Maryland Genealogical Society
http://www.mdgensoc.org/
Maryland Land Records
https://mdlandrec.net/main/
https://plats.msa.maryland.gov/pages/index.aspx
Maryland State Archives
http://msa.maryland.gov/
Western Maryland Historical Library (WHILBR)
http://www.whilbr.org/default.aspx
Includes a link to the Dr. Arthur G. Tracey land patent/tract index for Carroll, Frederick, and Washington county areas.

Maine
Genealogy Databases & Collections
https://www.mainegenealogy.net/databases.asp
Registry of Deeds
http://www.maineregistryofdeeds.com/

Missouri
Digital Heritage
http://www.sos.mo.gov/mdh/
Plat Books of Missouri
https://dl.mospace.umsystem.edu/mu/islandora/object/mu%3A5220
Hixson & Co. Plat Books from the early 1920s-1930s for 114 Missouri counties (Digital Library : University of Missouri)

New Jersey
Extracts from American Newspapers Relating to New Jersey, 1704-1775
https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/002040963
GSNJ Bible and Family Records Collection Index
http://gsnj.org/bible-records-index/
Jersey Genealogy: A Research Guide Using Local History Collections
https://www.nypl.org/blog/2015/02/09/new-jersey-genealogy-guide
Journals and Minutes of the State Legislature
http://www.njstatelib.org/research_library/legal_resources/historical_laws/legislative_journals_and_minutes/
Monmouth County Archives Searchable Databases
http://www.monmouthcountyclerk.com/archives/searchable-databases/
New Jersey Digital Legal Library
http://njlegallib.rutgers.edu/
New Jersey Early Land Records Project
http://njlandrecords.org/
New Jersey History Journal
http://njh.libraries.rutgers.edu/index.php/njh/index
New Jersey State Censuses, 1855-1915
http://gsnj.org/new-jersey-state-censuses/
Newark Archives Project
http://nap.rutgers.edu
Overview of Genealogical Resources at the State Archives
http://www.nj.gov/state/archives/pdf/GenealogicalRecords.pdf
Place Codes for New Jersey Vital Records
http://www.bringoutyerdead.com/genealogy-research-services/nj-place-codes/
Records of Officers and Men in the Civil War (Stryker, 1876)
http://www.njstatelib.org/research_library/new_jersey_resources/digital_collection/civil_war_officers_and_men/
Rutgers Library Guide on New Jersey History
http://libguides.rutgers.edu/new_jersey
Searchable Databases at the State Archives
https://wwwnet-dos.state.nj.us/DOS_ArchivesDBPortal/index.aspx
State Historical Society
http://www.jerseyhistory.org/
The Story of New Jersey’s Civil Boundaries 1606-1968 (Snyder, 1969)
https://dcms.lds.org/delivery/DeliveryManagerServlet?dps_pid=IE3652956 or
http://www.state.nj.us/dep/njgs/enviroed/oldpubs/bulletin67.pdf
Trenton Historical Society
http://trentonhistory.org/
Using the Records of the East and West Jersey Proprietors (Klett, 2014)
https://www.nj.gov/state/archives/pdf/proprietors.pdf

New York
Emigrant Savings Bank
User’s Guide to Emigrant Savings Bank Records
http://www.nypl.org/sites/default/files/emigrant.pdf
Old NYC: Mapping Historical Photos of NYC
https://www.oldnyc.org/
Find historical photos of New York City from the New York Public Library’s photographic collection using a geo-focused interface. All boroughs represented, 1870s-1970s.

Ohio
Dayton Obituary Index
http://www.daytonmetrolibrary.org/hobits/index.php
Miami Valley Genealogy Index
http://www.thetroyhistoricalsociety.org/mvgi/mvgi-idx.htm
Western Reserve Historical Society
https://www.wrhs.org/research/library/genealogy/

Oregon
Early Oregonians Database
https://secure.sos.state.or.us/prs/personProfileSearch.do?earlyOregonian
Oregon Donation Land Claim Index
http://gfo.org/resources/indexes/pioneer/donation-land-claims.html
The Genealogical Forum of Oregon (GFO) has an index of more than 7,300 successful claims for free land in the Oregon Territory.
State Historical Society
http://www.ohs.org/

North Carolina
http://nclandgrants.com/
David McCorkle first created this terrific website in 2014. The State Archives of North Carolina provided access to these 216,000 land grants going back to 1663.

Pennsylvania
Historic Pittsburgh
http://digital.library.pitt.edu/pittsburgh/
A tremendous number of resources for the “Steel City”, including historic maps, texts, images and census material. City directories are available online for 1815-1945.
Lancaster County Historical Society
http://lancasterhistory.org/
Added to my “must visit” list to research my 18th century Bigham, Ritchey/Richey, and Reed families. The Journal (published since 1896) is available at this link.
Pennsylvania Historical & Museum Commission
http://www.phmc.pa.gov/Archives/Research-Online/Pages/default.aspx
Start your research online with finding aids, research guides, and records.

South Carolina
South Carolina Department of Archives & History (SCDAH)
Online Records Index
http://www.archivesindex.sc.gov/
Plats for State Land Grants is just one of the record collections included

Virginia
Archival Resources of the Virginias (ARVAS)
https://arvasarchive.org/
A consolidated database of finding aids to manuscripts and archival material for Virginia and West Virginia.
Boundaries and Charters of Virginia
http://www.virginiaplaces.org/boundaries/charters.html
Virginia once claimed all territory between the 34th and 41st degrees latitude by charter. Land disputes with all her neighbors ensued.
Chalkley’s Chronicles of the Scotch Irish Settlement in Virginia (3 vols)
https://familysearch.org/search/catalog/258900
Not just “Scotch Irish”. Use this as more of a finding aid to original court records in Augusta County (1745-1800).
Library of Virginia
https://www.lva.virginia.gov/
The premier research facility for Virginia is located in Richmond. Two good entry points to the collection are the catalog and the county and city records holdings. The Chancery Records index is here. The Wills and Estates Records index is here.
Virginians in the Revolutionary War Era
https://varevwar.com/
Website by Bevin Creel.

Washington
Between the Lines: Washington State Library Blog
http://blogs.sos.wa.gov/library/
Digital Archives
http://www.digitalarchives.wa.gov/
My home state represents! A great starting point for research in Washington state.
Valuable databases here, some that include scanned records.
Washington State Genealogical Resource Guide
https://www.wasgs.org/cpage.php?pt=25
Links to downloadable PDF files for every county in Washington with contact information for libraries, museums, genealogical societies, etc.
Spokane Goes to War
http://spokanegoestowar.net/content/
Newly online in 2018, this collection documents the service of young men from Spokane, Washington in WWI. Includes War Committee Veteran Record Cards and photos in some cases.
Washington Rural Heritage
https://www.washingtonruralheritage.org/
153 smaller cultural institutions in Washington state have contributed material to this incredible (and growing) digital collection.

Pacific Northwest
http://archiveswest.orbiscascade.org/
The former Northwest Digital Archives (NWDA) project was re-branded in 2015 as Archives West and is the entry point to digital collections of larger educational institutions in the western states.

Newspapers

American Antiquarian Society (AAS)
http://www.americanantiquarian.org/newspapers9.htm
Links to state newspaper digitization projects by AAS Curator of Newspapers and Periodicals, Vincent Golden. One interesting blog by the AAS is Past is Present.

California Digital Newspaper Collection
http://cdnc.ucr.edu/cgi-bin/cdnc
More than half a million digitized Californian newspapers from 1846 to the present

Chronicling America Historic American Newspapers at the Library of Congress
http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/
A significant and growing repository of digitized American newspapers from 1789-1963. More than 19 million images from 45 states and D.C. are now available for no charge. Includes a separate section for publication information of American newspapers from 1690 called the U.S. Newspaper Directory.

Mapping Journalism’s Journey West
https://west.stanford.edu/research/works/journalism-s-voyage-west
Maps and newspapers together! Stanford University data visualization project derived from LOC newspaper data. Shows information on 140,000 newspapers published in the United States 1690-2011. Requires flash to view.

Ohio’s Digitized Newspapers
https://ohiomemory.ohiohistory.org/newspapers
See the state map on this page that shows which counties have digitized historic newspapers available, either on Chronicling America or Ohio Memory.

New Jersey Newspaper Resources
Burlington County Newspaper Notices Index (NNI)
https://netscape.bcls.lib.nj.us/newspapers/nni/
Abstracted information from several Burlington area newspapers, including the Bordentown Register, New Jersey Mirror, and Mount Holly Herald.

Hunterdon County Democrat
http://www.njsuttonfamily.org/Hunterdon%20Democrat%201838-1888.pdf
Excerpted information from the newspaper serving Hunterdon County, New Jersey spanning 50 years of publication, from 1838-1888.

New Brunswick Free Public Library (NBFPL)
http://newbrunswick.archivalweb.com/reelSelector.php
Digital images of The Daily Times and The Daily Home Guard newspapers published in New Brunswick, Middlesex Co., New Jersey from the latter half of the 19th century. Much more than newspapers on the library’s archives page.

Newark Public Library
https://www.digifind-it.com/newark/views/newspapers.php?id=3#
The library has digitized more than 40 years’ worth of the Newark Evening News (1883-1927).

Red Bank Register Archive
http://rbr.mtpl.org/rbr/
113 years of the area’s history represented in newspapers, 1878-1991. Red Bank is located in Monmouth Co., New Jersey northeast of Trenton. Searchable index with digital images of newspapers in PDF format.

Maps

Atlas of Historical County Boundaries
http://publications.newberry.org/ahcbp/
To effectively do historical research in the United States, it is essential to know the correct county. The Newberry Library in Chicago, Illinois maintains this site.

Charles Booth’s London
https://booth.lse.ac.uk/learn-more/download-maps
Victorian London poverty maps and police notebooks provided by the London School of Economics and Political Science.

David Rumsey Historical Map Collection
http://www.davidrumsey.com/
More than 122,000 maps and images online, from the 16th to 21st centuries.

DeedMapper Software
http://www.directlinesoftware.com/deedmapper_42
Use the software to enter land survey descriptions, and it plots the deed automatically. The deed database is particularly strong for Virginia and is accessible without purchase.

Greater Philadelphia GeoHistory Network
http://www.philageohistory.org/geohistory/
More than just maps. Find a variety of digitized geographic materials essential for studying the history of the Philadelphia area at this site.

Historical Soil Survey Maps
http://alabamamaps.ua.edu/historicalmaps/soilsurvey/
More than 1,600 United States Department of Agriculture maps published between 1899-1950. Requires the free MrSid browser plug-in for the best viewing experience.  Credit to professional genealogist J. Mark Lowe, CG who first introduced me to this site.

Hotchkiss Civil War Map Collection
http://www.loc.gov/collection/hotchkiss-maps/about-this-collection/
The new site for the complete map collection of Major Jedediah Hotchkiss, a Confederate “topographic engineer” who primarily drew maps in Virginia and West Virginia during the American Civil War.

Mapping the Freedmen’s Bureau
http://mappingthefreedmensbureau.com/maps/map/
Freedmen’s Bureau Field Offices mapped. Hover over an image to get a balloon showing microfilm reel numbers for the records, or links if available online.

National Geographic Vintage Maps
https://news.nationalgeographic.com/2018/05/map-of-the-day-cartography-vintage-archive-culture/?beta=true
More than 6,000 maps have recently been made available online, spanning 130 years of this wonderful publication.

New York Public Library Map Warper
http://maps.nypl.org/warper/
More than 28,600 hi-res maps in the public domain, and mapping tools to overlay historical maps onto modern-day maps. NYPL archived the site in April 2021.

The Greatest Grid
http://thegreatestgrid.mcny.org/greatest-grid/
Additional resources to augment the Museum of the City of New Yorks’s 2011-2012 exhibit on the street grid system of Manhattan, 1811-2011. Street grids for Philadelphia and DC are here.

Vision of Britain
http://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/maps/
Topographic, boundary, and land use maps covering Great Britain

Washington State General Map Collection (1851-2005)
http://www.digitalarchives.wa.gov/Collections/TitleInfo/873
More than 1,800 digitized maps from Washington’s territorial days to 2005

Immigration Research

Manifest Markings: A Guide to Interpreting Passenger List Annotations
http://www.jewishgen.org/infofiles/manifests/
Written by Marian L. Smith, Historian with the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service

Paleography

BYU Script Tutorial
https://script.byu.edu/

Early American Handwriting Game
http://www.reed.edu/handwriting/#

African American Research

Black Military Experience
http://www.freedmen.umd.edu/bmepg.htm
The story of Emancipation, and wartime service, as told by letters and manuscripts of those directly involved in the events of 1861-1867. Transcriptions reference original documents held at the National Archives. Part of the larger Freedmen and Southern Society Project of the University of Maryland.

Discover Freedmen
http://www.discoverfreedmen.org/
Search portal to records of nearly 4 million emancipated slaves

Free African Americans
http://www.freeafricanamericans.com/
Two award-winning books by Paul Heinegg have also been published on the web

Geography of Slavery in Virginia
http://www2.vcdh.virginia.edu/gos/
Early newspaper advertisements for runaway slaves and servants in digital form

Legacy of Slavery
http://slavery.msa.maryland.gov/
A wealth of primary resources are available via this “electronic publication” of the Maryland State Archives that explores the African American experience in Maryland, a border state at the time of the U.S. Civil War.

Missouri’s Early Slave Laws
http://www.sos.mo.gov/archives/education/aahi/earlyslavelaws/slavelaws.asp
Missouri’s laws were derived from the “Code Noir” of Colonial Louisiana. Of interest ever since I learned my extended Howard family in Missouri were slaveholders.

Patriots of Color Database
http://www.archives.com/Patriots
Search for men and women of color who participated in the American Revolution

Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade Database
https://slavevoyages.org/
Includes documentation of more than 36,000 slave ship voyages that transported 12 million or more Africans to the Americas, 16th to the 18th century. Sponsored by the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), among others.

[Last updated 05 Jun 2023]