External Websites and Databases

There are a number of free and subscription resources that can help you find a repository for church records or digitized versions of the records themselves. In digital collections, you will usually be able to see images of the actual documents, but sometimes there are only transcriptions available. Some digital collections have been indexed in order to be full-text searchable, but some of them are still in process, and you might have to browse them page image by page image. If you can’t see the document you are looking for, at least you can identify the repository that has them, and you can contact that repository directly with enough information to request any document that isn’t digitally available.

Free Web Resources

Yearbook of American and Canadian Churches External
This resource allows you to find church archives in the U.S. and Canada. From the Search Page, choose Archives from the drop down menu and then type in the denomination or group in the second search box.
Archivegrid External
Archivegrid is an index to historical documents, personal papers, and family histories held in archives around the world. This database contains nearly 1 million records (largely summary descriptions) of archival and manuscript collections; plus more than 50,000 finding aids (detailed lists describing the content of collections) from over from 190 contributors. ArchiveGrid also helps researchers contact archives to request information, arrange a visit, and order copies.
FamilySearch Catalog External
Use the Research Wiki to explore specific topics and places. You can build your own family tree and tie it into the vast global tree hosted by FamilySearch, or you can compare your information with that submitted by other people. Historic documents and family histories are at your fingertips. This database is free, but you will need to create an account. New records are collected and digitized constantly, so you may want to revisit this website regularly.
In addition to searching civil and church records from around the world. FamilySearch.org is your gateway to membership and ordinance records of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Research Wiki articles can help you learn to find these kinds of records. Searching by locality in the catalog or historic records can also lead you to LDS records.

Works Progress Administration (WPA) American Guide Series

The American Guide Series of books was produced by the Federal Writers Project between 1935 and 1943. The Federal Writers Project was one of the many programs under the Works Progress Administration (WPA). Church records were often inventoried by the authors of the volumes in this series and many of the guides have been digitized. The links below provide more information and links to the full text of online guides.

American Guide Series Summary [PDF]
This Senate site lists all of the guides with a brief description.
American Guide Series: The WPA Federal Writers' Project: The Guides from Rowan University External
This excellent resource pulls together an alphabetical list of the American Guide Series volumes with links to any that have been digitized.
American Guide Series from HathiTrust External
"HathiTrust is a growing, global partnership of major research institutions and libraries" which digitizes materials from these collections. Most guides from the WPA American Guide Series on this site will be digitized.

Subscription Databases

The subscription resources marked with a padlock are available to researchers on-site at the Library of Congress. If you are unable to visit the Library, you may be able to access these resources through your local public or academic library.

Ancestry Library Edition External This link opens in a new window
Ancestry provides access to historic church records from around the globe, including baptisms, marriages and burials. In addition, there are some church directories and Sunday School resources and links to Find A Grave.com.
Findmypast External This link opens in a new window
Find My Past provides access to the largest collection of parish records for the U.K., as well as Roman Catholic Archdiocese records for the U.K. and North America.
MyHeritage Library Edition External This link opens in a new window
The MyHeritage Library Edition features over 8 billion primary historical records from the United States, Europe, and other regions, with coverage starting from the 16th century. Often accompanied by true document images, these records illuminate historical realities across a wide variety of regions.
MyHeritage.com has an ever-growing collection of documents from around the world. In some times and places, the records of the state religion took the place of civil registration, so while you are not likely to find all the church records where your ancestor lived in this database, you will find ancestors of every denomination in the official registers, often with a clue as to their favored denomination.
PERSI (Periodical Source Index) External This link opens in a new window

PERSI is the premier subject index for genealogy and local history periodicals, and is produced by the staff of The Genealogy Center of the Allen County Public Library. Using this valuable resource provides citations to readily-available periodical sources.

Church and Synagogue Records for Genealogy

Local History & Genealogy: Ask a Librarian

External Websites and Databases

Free Web Resources

Works Progress Administration (WPA) American Guide Series

Subscription Databases