Digital Initiatives: Genealogy & Research

The Digital Library of South Dakota (DLSD) is a collaboration of the libraries of the six Board of Regents colleges and universities as well as partners in the state of South Dakota.

There are over 70,000 items in the South Dakota Digital Archives including photographs, manuscripts, land survey records, and maps.

The South Dakota State Library's Digital Collections reflect the history and culture of South Dakota. Primarily of interest to librarians, researchers, and genealogists, our digital collections include newspaper articles, SD library photographs, state government annual reports and research reports, SD Codified Laws, Session Laws, House and Senate Journals and more.

The Minnesota Digital Library (MDL) supports discovery and education through access to unique digital collections shared by cultural heritage organizations from across the state of Minnesota. Our contributors include libraries, historical societies, museums, and archives. The Minnesota Digital Library also provides education and training opportunities concerning digitization best practices, metadata for digital collections, and digital preservation.

The Montana Memory Project (MMP) is an online source for digital collections relating to Montana’s cultural heritage.

Since its inception in June of 2011, Sask History Online (SHO) has developed into the most diverse resource about Saskatchewan history and culture available online.

UM Digital Collections currently features over 75,000 digitized items including correspondence, photos, books, newspapers, and film.

DPLA is a free, national digital library that provides a single point of access to cultural heritage materials from more than 4,000 libraries, archives, and museums across the United States. Go to DPLA to search and access millions of images, videos, texts, sounds, etc.

Internet Archive is a non-profit library of millions of free books, movies, software, music, websites, and more.

HathiTrust is a partnership of academic and research institutions, offering a collection of millions of titles digitized from libraries around the world.

National Archives Catalog

Digital Collections

Thousands of genealogy books, family histories, maps, yearbooks, and more.

Northeastern State University - "This guide is designed to serve as a gateway to state archives, libraries, and consortiums that provide access to a wide range of historical digital collections and document indexes for all 50 states."

Digital collections of the Library of Congress

Library of Congress

Library of Congress

The mission of the GRHC at the NDSU Libraries (Fargo) is to share and preserve the history and culture of the Germans from Russia in North Dakota and the Northern Plains. Whether you seek information on your family tree or the perfect kuchen recipe, the GRHC is a valuable resource. Since its inception in 1978, this specialized archive has become one of the most comprehensive collections of German-Russian resources in the world.

The purpose of the GRHS is to bring together people who are interested in discovering the common history unique to Germanic-Russian ethnics and to preserve the many elements of their rich heritage. GRHS collects, lists, and catalogs published materials and personal documents that tell of the European migrations and exodus to the United States and Canada and also of the pioneer life on the plains. GRHS is located in Bismarck, ND.

Department of Health

State Archives - By state law, does not include deaths that have occurred within the past year.

The world’s largest gravesite collection.

NDSU Archives

Minnesota Historical Society

FamilySearch

State Archives

Minnesota Official Marriage System

State Archives - The Vital Records Division of the Department of Health did not begin collecting divorce records from the county courts until 1949. Divorce cases prior to 1949 may be found in the county where the divorce case was filed. The State Archives has divorce records for over half of the counties in civil case files or divorce case files.

State Archives

The North Dakota Biography Index database is an ongoing project of the NDSU Institute for Regional Studies to provide access to biographical sketches found in a wide variety of North Dakota publications. It currently contains some 250,000 names to published biographical sketches of North Dakotans found in over 800 publications. Additional names continue to be added on a regular basis.

The indexing of "Fargo Forum" newspaper obituaries is an ongoing project of the NDSU Institute for Regional Studies. The time period completed includes from October 1892 to 1909 and from November 1982 to 1995. In addition partial indexing has been done for other years. The database currently contains over 70,000 names. Additional obituaries continue to be added on a regular basis.

North Dakota State Library - A collection of digitized, historical atlases and plat books from North Dakota counties on Digital Horizons.

State Archives - list of atlases and plat books available for research at State Archives in Bismarck

The ND State Library (NDSL) maintains a collection of county atlases, primarily from the 1980s to the present, that are available for research at NDSL in Bismarck.

ND State Library - Digitized outline maps of North Dakota counties pulled from atlases and plat books.

State Historical Society of North Dakota - Maps relating to American Indians, Northern Great Plains, military maps, state resource maps, and railroad maps.

Library of Congress - digitized maps avaialble online

Library of Congress

David Rumsey Map Collection

North Dakota State Library

ND State Archives - The North Dakota Newspaper Law of 1905 required official newspapers to provide copies to the State Historical Society of North Dakota (SHSND). As a result, SHSND's newspaper archives contain issues from Dakota Territory to the present.

State Archives

ND State Archives - This database shows all of the newspapers that the State Archives has on microfilm for the state of North Dakota. Each record shows the date ranges and film numbers.

NDSU Archives - Archives holds newspaper issues in original hardcopy and microform, primarily for Fargo and special editions for North Dakota communities (community diamond jubilee, centennials, etc.). The newspaper collection includes a very small number of non-North Dakota titles.

NDSU Archives - This Fargo Forum Newspaper Index database provides citations (currently about 8,000 entries) to selected articles published in a number of Fargo newspapers between 1879 and 1975, primarily the "Fargo Forum," regarding events in North Dakota and to a limited extent in other states.

University of North Dakota Libraries - A guide to online and print newspapers.