If you're interested in researching your family's ancestry and climbing through your family tree, the library is here to support you with free access to databases, books and programs.
Genealogy
Ancestry Library Edition (library card required) – Access billions of US and UK census, military, immigration and other vital records. There are also helpful charts, forms and templates to help you organize your research, and a Learning Center with research aids full of tips and tricks to help you get the most out of the records you find.
MyHeritage Library Edition – Similar to Ancestry, you can search billions of historical records, photos and public records. MyHeritage, however, has additional resources spanning the past five centuries from over 70 countries.
Newspapers
Canton Observer – Digitized editions of the Canton Observer from 1974 through 2022. Patrons can search the full text of the paper from these dates or browse past issues.
Digital Michigan Newspaper Portal – Clarke Historical Library's digitized collection of newspapers from throughout the state of Michigan, dating back to 1830. The collection can be browsed by county or year, or patrons can search the entire collection.
Michigan News Sources (library card required) – Current and archived issues and articles from local news sources around Michigan. Search by keywords such as name, event or topic, or browse by publication.
Photos
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs - Millions of photographs, prints, drawings and posters. While international in scope, the collections include an abundance of materials produced in or documenting the history of the American people's lives, interests and achievements.
LIFE Magazine Photo Archive – Millions of photographs from the LIFE photo archive, dating from the 1750s to today. Most photos were never published but are now available through the joint work of LIFE and Google.
Maps
Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps – The Library of Congress collection of historical maps from the 19th century showing building structures and uses around the United States.
Histories
Michiganology – More than 10 million records, educational materials and stories chronicling the everyday lives of Michiganders. Includes death certificates, state census records, photograph and map collections.
Salem History (library card required) – This award-winning, curated content from Salem Press & Grey House Publishing includes a multi-volume reference series detailing the most important lives and events in history worldwide.
Other Resources
We offer a regular program called Genealogy Connect, where speakers discuss family history topics and patrons can connect with other researchers. Check our Programs page for dates and registration details.
We also have lots of books in our collection to help you understand and organize the information you find about your family. Just search "genealogy" in our library catalog.
If you’ve exhausted all our library resources and want to know about other reputable online tools for researching your family history, check out these Resources to Start Your Family Tree.
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