A RIHS
Library Resource Sheet
·
Arnold’s Vital Records, 1636-1850. Printed index to marriage, birth and death records
arranged by town and county. F78. A753 (green binding), F78 .A75 (red
binding). There are also church records and obituaries from 1636-1850 as a part
of this collection. F78 .A75 (red
binding)
·
Full
records are available on microfilm for some
·
RI State Vital Records, 1853-1900. Printed index to death and marriage records. F78
.A81 (yellow binding). Microfilmed index: Mfilm F78 .A71 births
(1853-1899), Mfilm F78 .A824 deaths (1901-1920). For full records: Mfilm F78 .A7 - F78 .A82
·
Census
Records:
The RIHS
Census Holdings Guide on top of the microfilm cabinet lists the state and
federal census holdings of the library. There is also a more detailed finding
aid with descriptions of state and federal census records located in the Printed
Collection Finding Aids .
For 1880,
1900, 1920 and 1930 Federal Census use Ancestry.com on the computer. The 1890
Federal Census was destroyed by fire in
Ancestry.com:
The Library
has a subscription to the Ancestry.com database. Available on the database are
United States Census Records from 1860-1930, passenger lists, social security
death index, military records and various state records. There is a computer
for patron use.
Main
Card Catalog:
·
Specific
family names (surnames) - i.e. Allen Family, Martin Family
·
Name
of city/town - The section for each city/town often contains additional
references such as genealogy, cemeteries, history, probate records, land
records, tax lists, etc.
·
Specific
ethnic groups - i.e. Native American, Swedish
·
Specific
cemetery names - i.e.
·
Specific
churches - i.e.
·
Specific
institutions – i.e. schools, businesses
City Directories:
A nearly complete run of city
directories from across Rhode Island and neighboring cities of Fall River and
Attleboro, Massachusetts. Providence House Directories, arranged by street
address, are also part of the collection.
A database containing over 410,000 gravestone inscriptions for hundreds
of
This quarterly publication of the Rhode Island Genealogical Society
includes articles on Rhode Island families and genealogy resources and is
available in the Reading Room (CS 42 .R5) and is indexed on CD-ROM (also in the
Reading Room).
Passenger Lists:
Passenger lists are available from 1798-1943 for the
Index of Wills 1636-1850:
This is an index as published in the
Family Bible Collection:
A Finding Aid for RIHS Bible Collections is located
on top of the card catalog. Transcriptions or photocopies of genealogical
materials from the bibles are in the Vertical File Biography section. CS65
.B6
Guide to
the Records of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) in
The Library is
the official site for the New England Yearly Meeting Archives. The Archives
include books, pamphlets, personal papers, audiotapes, periodicals, photographs
and microfilm. The guide to the papers is located on top of the microfilm
cabinet. F184 .F89 G8 1997
American Genealogical
Biographical Index:
This
multi-volume index is national in scope. The entry for each name lists state or
country of birth and approximate date of birth. The reference after the date
and place are short citations for the publications where the information was
found. The citations are fully listed at the beginnings of volumes 10, 34 and
54. Z5313 .U5 A55
Austin,
John Osborne. Genealogical Dictionary of
Austin, John Osborne. One Hundred and Sixty Allied Families.
Bartlett, John Russell (ed.). Records of the Colony of
Additional Genealogy Resources
Newspaper Collection:
The library is the repository for the
federally funded Rhode Island Newspaper Project. The library has a microfilm
collection of almost every
The almanacs cover the years 1887-1998 and
give a synopsis of the previous year. There is also a necrology, which provides
an index of the previous year’s obituaries. AY67 .P7 J67.
Special
Collections:
The manuscript collection may
provide additional information once other sources have been exhausted. The following may be useful in genealogy
research:
·
Papers
or diaries of family members (manuscript collection)
·
Tax
lists (manuscript collection)
·
Old
Stone Bank Depositor Records 1844-1897 (manuscript collection, not indexed)
·
Revolutionary
War Records (manuscript collection – card catalog index available)
·
Sanborn
Fire Insurance Maps (graphics collection)
·
Institutional
Records (manuscript collection – businesses, organizations, asylums, schools)
The
401-273-8107 ext. 10
www.rihs.org