Welcome to the SGS Research Library

SGS Catalog Listings           

These lists include the call numbers, titles, and authors of books that may be found at the SGS Library.  In most cases, the books are listed in the order in which they appear on the library shelves.  Click on one of the links below to browse the collection.  

  New England    Mid-Atlantic    South    Midwest    North Central   Pacific Northwest    West 

Alabama    Alaska    Arizona     Arkansas     California     Colorado     Connecticut    Delaware    District of Columbia    Florida     Georgia     Hawaii     Idaho    Illinois    Indiana    Iowa     Kansas     Kentucky     Louisiana    Maine    Maryland    Massachusetts     Michigan     Minnesota     Missouri     Mississippi     Montana     Nebraska     Nevada    New Hampshire    
New Jersey     New Mexico    New York    North Carolina    North Dakota     Ohio     Oklahoma    Oregon    Pennsylvania     Rhode Island    South Carolina    South Dakota     Tennessee    Texas     Utah    Virginia    Vermont    Washington    West Virginia    Wisconsin    Wyoming

International    Latin America    British Isles    Europe    Scandinavia

Africa    Australia    Austria    Belgium     
Canada   ( Alberta    British Columbia    Manitoba    New Brunswick    Newfoundland    Nova Scotia
    Ontario    Prince Edward Island    Quebec    Saskatchewan )
China    Cuba    Czechoslovakia    Denmark    Faeroe Islands    Finland    France    Germany    Germans from Russia    Greece    Hungary    Iceland   Ireland    Israel    Italy    Lithuania    Mexico    Netherlands    New Zealand    Norway    Puerto Rico    Spain    Sweden    Switzerland    Poland    Russia   
    United Kingdom   ( Channel Islands    England    Isle of Man     Northern Ireland    Scotch-Irish    Scotland    Wales )

Some of the resources available are:

• COMPUTER WORKSTATIONS. - Four PC workstations are available for patrons to access and search the SGS collection of computer databases.  Currently, two workstations have Internet connections; a subscription to the online Ancestry.com database is available on one of these.  In addition, wireless Internet access is available for those who bring their own portable computers.  For data storage and retrieval, all workstations are equipped with floppy drives, two workstations accept USB flash drives, and two workstations are equipped with printers (15 cents per print).  Computer workstations, including wireless Internet access, are available to members at no charge and to non-members at $1 per hour.

• COMPUTER DATABASES. - SGS members support the society's annual subscription to Ancestry.com World Deluxe databases (which includes the entire US Census 1790-1930, every name indexed, the UK Census 1841-1901, every name indexed, US and UK historical newspapers and directories, and an immense collection of other resources).  The SGS collection of over 200 CDROMs supplements the library's book collection, with computer searchable indexes and compilations of scanned source materials covering both US and International locations.  A special King County, WA, Index to Court Records 1880-1980, compiled by SGS volunteers, is over 50% complete and available on CDROM only at the library.  Also available is Deedmapper software for mapping metes-and-bounds land patents, including access to an extensive data set of volunteer-transcribed patents for the counties of Virginia.

• MICROFILM, a small collection of MICROFICHE, and readers - included in the microfilm collection is the WASHINGTON STATE DEATH INDEX, 1907 to 1989 (the last ten years on fiche only), assorted national and state census rolls (including the 1895 MINNESOTA STATE CENSUS), and miscellaneous other donated films and fische.

• BOOKS AVAILABLE FOR SALE. - These include both Society publications and those of other publishers which have been found by Society reviewers to be especially useful aids in genealogical research.

• NEW ACQUISITIONS to the library - each edition of the SGS Bulletin includes a list of new library acquisitions. Each item on these shelves has a colored dot affixed to the cover to indicate which Bulletin it was listed in.

• GENEALOGICAL REFERENCE RESOURCES - These include standard "how-to" reference works as well as general historical references, computer genealogy, library holdings, and a wide range of other useful resources [total of 31 lineal feet of reference works]

• U. S. GENERAL resources - include materials on Mayflower Descendants [about 8 lineal feet], biographical dictionaries, regional resources (e.g. New England, Central Atlantic…), history of presidents, passenger lists.

• U. S. MILITARY resources - including references on the American Revolution,War of 1812, Civil War, etc.

• U. S. GENEALOGICAL BULLETINS (i.e., not specific to a single state) including the National Genealogical Quarterly, Heritage Quest, The Genealogical Helper, New England Historical & Genealogical Register, CAR-DEL Scribe, and a few others.

• U. S. STATE RESOURCES - arranged alphabetically by state.  Within each state section are both general state resources and county-specific materials.  Holdings vary significantly by state; though every state is represented, some of the largest sections are WA, PA, NY, OH, IL, IN, VA and OR.  As a region, New England states are well represented.  

• PERIODICALS - found within each country and state section of the library.  These historical and genealogical journals and newsletters are obtained from exchanges of the SGS Bulletin with other societies; a few have been donated by SGS members from their personal collections.  The Periodical Source Index (PERSI) is available on CDROM as an aid to finding specific articles in these journals.

• The GEORGE F. KENT COLLECTION of NEW JERSEY and related materials, comprising 122 volumes plus a 28-drawer card file.  The Genealogical Magazine of New Jersey comprises the backbone of this collection.  SGS added a multi-volume index to make the GMNJ more useful to researchers.  The card file contains thousands of large cards which index cemeteries, church records, abstracts of deeds, marriage records, military records and family information.  The Kent Collection is described in more detail in the Winter 1988-89 edition of the SGS Bulletin.

• WASHINGTON STATE information -

• WASHINGTON STATE resources, both for the state as a whole [approx. 12 lineal feet] and for the state’s 39 counties (arranged alphabetically by county name). These resources include both published books, periodicals and loose-leaf notebooks containing transcriptions and other materials.  See the catalog listing of books available.

• WASHINGTON DAR NOTEBOOKS….unindexed binders labeled "Family Records of Washington Pioneers" .

• WASHINGTON VERTICAL FILES—one file cabinet of miscellaneous files on Washington families.

• RARE BOOKS relating to the Pacific Northwest [ask the volunteer for access to these locked cabinets]

• SEATTLE CITY DIRECTORIES covering the years 1890, 1891, 1898, 1900-1935, 1937-1944, 1948-49, 1951, 1953-1956, 1958-1978, 1980-81, 1983, 1985-1990, plus 7 miscellaneous directories for other cities in western Washington.

• OREGON, ALASKA and IDAHO materials [about 16 lineal feet].

• FOREIGN MATERIALS - organized by country. These include sections on CANADA [20+ feet], ENGLAND [20+ feet], Great Britain/United Kingdom[20+ feet], smaller sections on IRELAND, GERMANY, FRANCE, ITALY, other western European countries. Another set of shelves [about 45 lineal feet] focus on SCANDINAVIAN resources, with sections on each of these countries

• FAMILY HISTORIES - organized alphabetically by primary surname [approximately 145 lineal feet].  These include professionally published volumes, typescripts and binders of family materials, and periodicals from family societies.  There is a collection of over 250 AGRI FAMILY HISTORIES—single surname studies published by the American Genealogical Research Institute.  

• SURNAME VERTICAL FILES - include items contributed by SGS members such as newspaper clippings, handwritten notes, short typescripts, etc.  Nearby is the collection of SURNAME NOTEBOOKS containing Family Group Sheets submitted by Seattle Genealogical Society members over the last 75 years, arranged alphabetically.