Guide to Georgia Public Library's Genealogy Information

The Georgia Public Library Service has published a guide that is designed to get the word out about the genealogy information and local history collections that are available at libraries across Georgia. The guide can be viewed and downloaded for free. It might point you towards resources that can help you find out more about your ancestors that lived in Georgia.

The guide is titled “Georgia’s Treasures: Exploring Your Genealogy, History, and Culture at Public Libraries”. It is 24-pages long and includes a full page of in-depth information about 10 library collections. In addition, the guide lists information about 38 other libraries, including contact information, websites, and a short description of each.

The good news for genealogists is that the guide can be viewed online for free. It can also be freely downloaded. The potentially disappointing news is that the guide is limited to public libraries, only. It does not contain information about genealogy or family history resources in archives, historical societies, or in private collections.

The Georgia Public Library Service website, where you can download the guide, has links to Georgia genealogy and local history resources that are available digitally.

Digital Library of Georgia – Connects users to a million digital objects in more than 200 collections from 60 institutions and 100 government agencies. It is a gateway to Georgia’s history and culture found in digitized books, manuscripts, photographs, government documents, maps, audio, video, and other resources.

GALILEO – Allows Georgia citizens to have access to authoritative, subscription-only information that isn’t available through free search engines or Web directories. It includes: Digital Library of Georgia, Heritage Quest, Ancestry Library Edition, and more. The Ancestry Library Edition is only available at Public Libraries.

Georgia’s Virtual Vault A portal to some of Georgia’s most important historical documents, from 1733 to the present. It provides virtual access to historic Georgia manuscripts, photographs, maps, and government records housed in the Georgia State Archives.

Georgia’s Historic Newspapers – A project of the Digital Library of Georgia (DLG), and based at the University of Georgia Libraries. The archive is free and open for public use and includes over one million Georgia newspaper pages between 1786 and 1986.

Want to find out more about the genealogy resources at a specific Georgia Public Library? In addition to the guide, the Georgia Public Library Service has posted links to several Public Library Archives. The list is organized in alphabetical order by name of the Public Library.

Related Articles at FamilyTree.com:

* Georgia Confederate Muster Rolls

* Archives with Georgia State University

* Genealogy Resources at Cobb County Genealogy Society