A frustration of doing genealogy research is not knowing what resources might be near you. Imagine researching an ancestor and discovering that a library or archive near you just happens to have an amazing collection that fills in a crucial gap…but how do you find that out? Enter ArchiveGrid!
Before I talk about ArchiveGrid, here’s another frustration of mine: how do I find out about tools like ArchiveGrid? One of my solutions is listening to genealogy podcasts. In this case, I was listening to the mother-and-daughter team of Diana Elder and Nicole Dyer at the “Research Like A Pro” podcast in episode #21 (The FamilySearch Catalog) when they mentioned Worldcat.org and ArchiveGrid. I know Worldcat.org, a wonderful site that tells you every library that has a copy of the book you’re looking for, but had never heard of ArchiveGrid, a Worldcat.org project. Here’s how ArchiveGrid describes itself:
ArchiveGrid includes over 5 million records describing archival materials, bringing together information about historical documents, personal papers, family histories, and more. With over 1,000 different archival institutions represented, ArchiveGrid helps researchers looking for primary source materials held in archives, libraries, museums and historical societies.
Search ArchiveGrid for a surname, a county — anything you’re interested in — and not only will it list all the archives that have relevant collections, but it also may describe the collection in detail. You can also browse your state or archives near where you live to see if there are institutions you might have missed.
What a gem of a site! If you find anything interesting from your ArchiveGrid search, please leave a comment to give the rest of us ideas on how to use it.
