What kinds of materials does the Library have? What parts of the world are they from?
Publications
The Library of Congress Local History and Genealogy Section has one of the world's premier collections of U.S. and foreign local history and genealogy publications. The Library's collections now contain over 100,000 U.S. local histories and more than 50,000 family histories.
The collection is strongest in United States publications, but the Library also collects foreign genealogies, and researchers doing foreign research will find strong collections for Western Europe, especially the United Kingdom, Ireland, and Germany.
While the Library is rich in collections of manuscripts, microfilms, newspapers, photographs, maps, and published material, it is not an archive or repository for unpublished or primary source county or state records. You will need to contact county courthouses and state archives for those materials. However, if your county or state has published indexes, abstracts, or transcriptions of their records, the Library may have those published compilations.
Vertical Files
The Library of Congress Local History and Genealogy Section also maintains vertical files. This uncataloged collection contains miscellaneous materials relating to specific family names, to the states, towns, and cities of the U.S., and to genealogical research in general. Included are drafts of letters written by LH&G reference librarians, pamphlets and other materials donated to the Library, magazine and newspaper clippings, genealogical charts and newsletters, and brochures of genealogical interest relating to organizations, societies and libraries throughout the United States. View the complete list of the vertical file subjects for further records.
Digital Collections
Explore the Library's Digital Collections for free from your home right now. These include newspapers, maps, photos, the personal papers of national figures, and more.
Electronic Resources
The Library of Congress offers electronic resources including online subscription databases of newspapers, journals, books, magazines, manuals, and other materials relevant to genealogical research. Databases, including the library editions of Ancestry, HeritageQuest Online, Accessible Archives, American Ancestors, FindMyPast, MyHeritage, and ProQuest Historical Newspapers, provide enhanced accessibility to the Library’s collections and to those of other institutions. These electronic resources supplement the Library’s extensive print holdings, such as unpublished census, vital records, and military records, that the Library would not otherwise have available.
Throughout the Library
Records and resources pertinent to local history and genealogy are not limited to the Local History and Genealogy Section of the Library. View the complete list of specialized Library of Congress Reading Rooms to explore their collections.