Popular Tools
Tools
Use these helpful tools to aid you in family research.
Library Resources
Ancestry Library Edition
(Currently this is available from anywhere during the COVID-19.) The world’s largest online resource for family history resources.
American Ancestors Online
by New England Historic and Genealogical Society, is a repository for more than 400 million searchable names covering New England, New York, and beyond. It provides access to the New England Historical and Genealogical Register and American Ancestors magazine, databases, and more than 200,000 published genealogies, biographies, local histories, vital records, maps, and other printed materials.
African-American History & Genealogy
Explore African American history, culture and experience from the 16th through 20th centuries in newspapers, periodicals, pamphlets, broadsides and other imprints. NewsBank’s Archive of Americana family of historical collections give access to a wide range of resources on African Americans.
America’s Obituaries
The largest and most comprehensive newspaper collection of obituaries and death notices from the late 1990s to the present.
Ancestry Library Edition (Currently this is available from anywhere during the COVID-19 safer at home orders.)
The world’s largest online resource for family history resources.
Data Axle
(formerly Reference USA) is a U.S. Standard White Pages database. Use this database of over 155 million U.S. Residents to locate friends and relatives. Selection criteria include: Name, Address, And more…
Family Search Catalog
Topeka & Shawnee County Public Library is an affiliate site for Family Search microfilm. You can now search the catalog, find microfilm or microfiche and have it sent to our library for you to view. (Library Card Not Required)
Fold3
Fold3 is the web’s premier collection of original US military records, including many from the US National Archives.
Genealogy Connect
Collection of nearly 600 genealogy research and reference publications.
HeritageQuest
A free resource for census records and city directories. It has resources for researchers who are either just beginning their family research or who after years of work are still uncovering their past.
Interlibrary Loan (ILL)
Find a book to help you with your family research in the Family Search Catalog or another library? Our Interlibrary Loan (ILL) Department may be able to borrow it for you from another library.
Newspapers.com - World Collection
Find marriage and birth announcements, obituaries, news and more.
Sanborn Maps
American cities, towns and neighborhood histories are digitized via Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps, 1867-1970.
Social Justice Suite
Research the history of slavery in America, civil rights and social justice issues, gun regulation and legislation in America and more.
The following sites can be accessed without a library card:
American Genealogical Index
The best starting point to find any early New England settlers via the Godfrey Memorial Library.
BLM General Land Office Records
Bureau of Land Management records provide live access to Federal land conveyance records for the Public Land States, including image access to more than 5 million Federal land titles records issued between 1820 – present.
Cyndi’s List of Genealogy Sites
A helpful list of genealogy resources on the Internet.
FamilySearch
FamilySearch maintains a collection of records, resources and services designed to help people learn more about their family history.
Find a Grave
A free resource for finding the graves of ancestors and creating virtual memorials.
GEDMatch
A free website to help you connect to your kinship through DNA.
Kansas State Government Publications
A listing from the Kansas KGI Online Library of about 60,000 publications from 1861-2019. They include directories, reports and catalogs that contain names of employees, residents, professionals, retailers and others that can help genealogists in finding relatives.
Kansas State Historical Society
Kansas Historical Society has served as the State Archives since 1905, including government records, manuscripts, photos and other primary sources. Kansas log in to Newspapers.com.
KS Maps Online
Wichita State University Libraries Special Collections and University Archives presents over 325 digitized Kansas maps, dating from 1556 to 1900, for interactive viewing.
KSGenweb Project
Volunteers work together to provide free genealogy websites for genealogical research in every county and every state of the United States.
Making of America
From the Cornell University Library, a digital library of primary sources in American social history from the antebellum period through reconstruction.
The Mt. Auburn Cemetery Files (.zip)
Mt. Auburn Cemetery is located at 916 SE California in Topeka. It was formed August 12, 1909 and forfeited September 15, 1991. Mt Auburn Cemetery Map
National Archives Records Administration
Valuable federal records for genealogists include the census, immigration, land records and more.
Nationwide Gravesite Locator
The National Cemetery Administration department of Veterans Affairs (VA) provides the Nationwide Gravesite Locator to help families locate the burial locations of veterans.
Rootsweb
RootsWeb is the Internet’s oldest and largest free genealogical community with searchable databases and message boards.
Topeka Genealogy Society
TGS houses a large and growing collection of more than 12,000 books and 700 genealogical periodical titles and offers resources and learning opportunities.
USGenWeb Project
USGenWeb Project is a group of volunteers working together to provide free genealogy websites for genealogical research in every county and every state of the United States.
WorldGenWeb Project
The WorldGenWeb Project is a non-profit, volunteer based organization dedicated to providing genealogical and historical records and resources for world-wide access!
