TODAY'S TIP: Genealogy Resources at the LibrarySan Francisco Public Library can support you in many of your hobbies, from crafts to sports to family history research. With databases offered by SFPL, you can do much of your genealogy research online for free.
From the homepage, click on e-Library and then Articles & Databases, then choose the History & Genealogy category from the pull-down Category menu. You can choose either Ancestry Library Edition or HeritageQuest Online.
Ancestry Library Edition contains a massive amount of genealogy data, including all available US Censuses with name and other indexes, military records, passenger ship lists, and vital records. You can begin your search by entering whatever information you have on the person you are seeking, including name and birth information. After finding relevant documents, facsimiles can be viewed, printed and saved to your USB drive as a JPEG file. Ancestry Library Edition is only available in the library, not from home.
HeritageQuest Online is a collection of databases that include the PERSI periodical index, Revolutionary War records and the US Census with some name indexes. The PERSI index includes citations for over 2 million family and local history articles. Facsimiles of original documents can be viewed, printed and saved to your USB drive or home computer, generally as a PDF or TIFF file.
If you are interested in starting your family history research or would like to brush up on your skills and knowledge of online genealogy resources, join us at Excelsior Branch for a class on Genealogy Research Basics on Saturday, October 17 at 3:30 p.m. In addition to basic online research principles, detailed instructions on downloading from HeritageQuest and Ancestry Library Edition will be given in this class.
Excelsior Librarians and Staff share tips & tricks to help you make the most of the San Francisco Public Library catalog, databases and website. New tips posted Tuesdays on the Excelsior Blog. Watch this space!
