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Resources
How To
Learn how to find people, places, events and more.
How to...
You can explore several newspaper databases, including Newspapers.com – World Collection for Newspapers from the late 1800s through the 1920s, and NewsBank for Topeka - area newspapers from 1948 to today. The Topeka Room also has an extensive collection of local newspapers on microfilm. We will be happy to help you locate and use these materials.
In addition, we offer an Obituary Index with more than 17,000 entries from Topeka newspapers. If you can’t find the obituary you need, fill out our obituary request form, and we will search our Topeka and Shawnee County collections for you.
For wedding announcements you can access our Kansas Marriage License Indexes in person through the Topeka Room collection.
How can I find out more about an event that happened in Topeka?
Search our subject index to see if we have a vertical file on the event. These files include newspaper clippings, photographs and ephemera on a variety of events, natural disasters and festivals that have taken place in Topeka over the years.
Our complete collection of the Shawnee County Historical Society Bulletins is also a great source for information on a variety of topics. You can view them in person in the Topeka Room or digitized on our Digital Collections webpage.
You can also search our library catalog to see if there is a particular book covering the topic of interest.
How can I find a person who lived in Topeka?
In the Topeka Room there are several resources you can use to find details about a person who lived in Topeka and Shawnee County.
To see if the library has a vertical file with information on an individual or family, search our biography index. These files may contain newspaper clippings or photographs related to the person.
City directories can be a wonderful resource to find where a person lived and for how long. You can view these either in person in the Topeka Room or on HeritageQuest Online.
Our complete collection of the Shawnee County Historical Society Bulletins is also a great source for information on the lives of notable Topekans. You can view them in person in the Topeka Room or digitized on our Digital Collections webpage.
You can search our newspaper databases to find any newspaper articles that mention an individual. For papers from the late 1800s through the 1920s use Newspapers.com-World Collection. For Topeka papers from 1948 to today use NewsBank. Our newspapers on microfilm have the most comprehensive collection of Topeka news. We are happy to show you how to use our microfilm readers.
How can I find a place in Topeka?
The Topeka Room has many resources to learn more about local homes and businesses. To see if the library has a vertical file with information on a home, search our index under the subject heading “HOUSES” and look for the street address. With these files, you can often find newspaper clippings or photographs related to your topic.
Our collection of Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps is accessible in person or online (color versions can be found here). Use these to find buildings by street blocks and building numbers.
With our city directories, you can search for local properties and find information about previous owners. These records are also available online on HeritageQuest Online.
Our Sherwood Smith collection shows the blueprint plans for many Topeka homes and businesses from the 19th and 20th centuries. Search for a property on our Digital Collections webpage.
To research historic homes and properties in Kansas, search the Kansas Historic Resources Inventory database and interactive map for more information.
The Shawnee County Appraisers Office and Shawnee County Register of Deeds can also help you learn more about local properties.
Oral history is a method of collecting, preserving and interpreting first-hand accounts of past events through recorded spoken interviews. Questions you ask can cover a person's life, family, and community including their childhood memories, education and work history. It's helpful to start with basic biographical information, then move to specific life events, personal relationships, and reflections on how major historical events have affected them. Other topics can include family traditions, heirlooms and hopes for the future.
Overcoming Roadblocks
Use this section to break through research "brick walls". Find helpful tips and unique ways to uncover hidden records while researching.
Overcoming Roadblocks
- As the Topeka Room is a Genealogy Hub, we specialize in helping researchers break through their brick walls. A good place to start is the Local History and Genealogy Tutorials--an ever-growing library of tutorials and niche learning modules that can be viewed at any time and from any location.
- Customers can schedule an appointment with the Genealogy Librarian at any time.
This is one of the most fun (but also the most difficult) parts of Genealogy! Most often conflicting information is an accident. There might be inaccurate census data, misspelled names, wrong ages and even inaccurate paternity, but there are nearly always other kinds of documents and DNA that we can help you find to get to the truth.
- The Topeka Room is unique in that it is a full research suite. We have special collections of books and archives from around the world and local collections materials as well.
- Topeka City Directories, Yearbooks, Plat Maps, Sanborn Maps, Topeka Building Permits, Cemetery Records and Newspapers can be found here.
Absolutely! TSCPL works closely with other local initiatives from such places as:
Specialized Topics
Use this section for insight on tools for unique research topics.
Specialized Topics
We provide information on the best tests and are happy to take a look at your results with you and help you determine what they can tell you and what they can't.
We have databases you can use free with your library card. We have resources from all over the world. We can help you research specific ethnicities, cultures and migration routes.
The Topeka Room houses multiple resources including the Dawes Rolls, which will help you trace your ancestry to the Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Muscogee (Creek) and Seminole tribes. We also have physical and online resources specific to ethnic ancestry.
We can help you get started researching yourself and your family tree. Based on the research and any ephemera you have, we can help you find answers.
Popular Tools
We have numerous databases, guides, links and worksheets to aid in your search.
Library Resources
Ancestry Library Edition
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.
A to Z Databases
A to Z databases is a directory and marketing database that includes 30 million businesses and 220 million residents. It is ideal for sales leads, mailing lists, market research, job searches and finding friends and relatives.
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.
Heritage Hub
Access a vast collection of historical documents, including newspapers, books, pamphlets, and government records, covering over 300 years of history. Formerly known as America's Obituaries.
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.
FamilySearch Finding Digital Records
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.
Genealogy & Local History Tutorials
Take training classes that will teach you about creating oral histories and learn more about the kits used in creating them.
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!
