Genealogical Society of Palm Beach County
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Instruction & Introduction

Browse our nearly 9,000 titles and over 13,000 volumes to see what is available much more quickly than you ever could in the past. Find out what you have been missing, then come on down! Although you can search by Author, Title, or Call Number, the most common method is by Subject and then the Locality. However keep in mind that if you do not find what you seek, with a little creative thinking you will probably find the information, if it's in our collection.
 
In situations where a resource (book, CD, etc.) covers several states, it may also be entered under US.  With the exception of a few countries, all of Europe is grouped together; most Caribbean Islands are together as well. The states are listed first, then foreign lands, and near the end are some miscellaneous categories. Some resources do not lend themselves to the locality heading. As a consequence you will find headings for lineage, historical, and heraldry societies at the end of the locality category. There are a few others that are not strictly localities but will aid you in finding special resources.
 
 If you don’t find the resource under the Subject you try first, such as directory, try index, register, or even list. If it’s not under emigration, try immigration, or migration. If at first you don’t succeed, be flexible. Locating the resource for which you are searching is not really as hard as it sounds. In most cases you will find the resource on the first or second attempt, after a little practice. Click here to go directly to our Bibliography.


Some Major Holdings Include:
  • Barbour Collection - General Index
  • Barbour Collection - Vital Records
  • Bussy Collection - Irish Books
  • Passenger & Immigration Indexes Vol. 1 to current
  • New England Register 1847 to current
  • AmericanState Papers Indexes
  • The American Genealogist Vol. 1 to current
  • The Genealogist Vol. 1 to current
  • DAR Lineage Books, Vol. 1 - 166
  • Mayflower Descendant Vol. 1 to current
  • The Rebellion Record 12 vols.
  • Encyclopedia of American Quaker Genealogy 6 v.
  • Southern Historical Society Papers, 52 vols.
  • Boston Transcripts (Microfiche)
  • The Mary & John (Passengers) 
  • Vosburgh Collection of New York (microfilm)
Additional resources in our library include:
  •  A surname card file with over 200,000 index cards and loose leaf or manuscript materials sorted by surname, supplement bound materials.
  • Copies of the five most popular genealogy software programs, with sample data, to allow members to experience the "touch and feel" of each program before making a purchase decision.
  • Microfiche Index of State of Florida Marriages, Deaths and Divorces.
  • The "International Genealogical Index" (IGI) [on Microfiche] and the "American Genealogical-Biographical Index" (AGBI) [on CD-ROM] are available.
  • We have "Genealogical Periodical Annual Index" (GPAI) and "Periodical Source Index" (PERSI).
  • Indexes for military pension and service records, immigration and passenger lists, and censuses are in the collection.
  • Computers are available for viewing our CD-ROM collection.  We have high speed internet capability for accessing     free information on the internet
  •  The library subscribes to Ancestry Library Edition, through which we can access all censuses, SSDI, immigration lists,  Civil War records, WWI draft registration cards, etc
  • Two microform reader/printers and a copier are available.