GALILEO is there: Researching Your Family History

In celebration of National Library Week, we are doing a series on how GALILEO is there supporting your community.

So far, we have talked about GALILEO resources to help your career and to help you find your next favorite book.

Today, let’s see how GALILEO can help you research your family tree.

Take a look at HeritageQuest Online, which includes census records, local histories, family histories, and more. Also, we previously wrote a tip on how to find historical state maps in HeritageQuest Online, which show how the county lines changed over the years. HeritageQuest Online also includes genealogy training videos and slide presentations for users; just look for the Learner Center link at the top after you log in.

Also, Ancestry Library Edition, which includes military, immigration, census, court, birth, marriage, and death records as well as maps, images, obituaries, and much more. Ancestry Library Edition also provide blank census forms and research forms to help you keep up with the information you collect; just click the Charts and Forms tab at the top to see these. (This database is only available in the library due to licensing restrictions from the vendor, so you’ll need to go to your local Georgia public library to access it.)

If you’re wondering about the difference in HeritageQuest Online and Ancestry Library Edition, the vendor, ProQuest, has created a comparison chart.

For all things Georgia, the Digital Library of Georgia includes over a million digital items on Georgia’s history and culture, including digitized books, photographs, newspapers, maps (including the Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps), and more.

Find additional resources in the Genealogy and Georgia History and Culture sections of GALILEO.

GALILEO has upcoming training sessions on Ancestry Library Edition and HeritageQuest Online during April. Register for these on the GALILEO Training page.

Some links may not work off site. Log in to GALILEO first for access. Contact your local public library for assistance and to see what additional genealogy and local history resources they may offer.

Image from the Vanishing Georgia collection of the Digital Library of Georgia