Wisconsin Archives and Libraries

United States Wisconsin  Archives and Libraries

Many archives and libraries have resources such as maps, gazetteers, and other place-finding aids to help you locate information about Wisconsin. They may have collections of previous research, such as family and local histories and biographies. Many have record-finding aids such as guides to their own collections or inventories of records housed elsewhere in the state.

The following archives, libraries, and societies have collections or services helpful to genealogical researchers.

Wisconsin Historical Society 816 State Street Madison, WI 53706 Library Division Telephone: 608-264-6535 Library Division Fax: 608-264-6520 Archives Division Telephone: 608-264-6460 Internet: http://www.wisconsinhistory.org/

The research collections of the Wisconsin Historical Society are divided between library and archives divisions. The library houses printed materials, while the archives maintains the original records for Wisconsin government jurisdictions. The local records are often located at the appropriate area research centers (see addresses below).

The library's subject card catalog contains the names of individuals from biographical sketches in histories, biographies, and obituaries. The library will check this card catalog for a name if you will send a self-addressed stamped envelope. The library's book collection is listed in MadCat, the University of Wisconsin Library's online catalog.

Several guides have been published that describe the collections at this society. A helpful introductory guide is:


 * Danky, James P., ed. Genealogical Research: An Introduction to the Resources of the State Historical Society of Wisconsin. Madison, Wisconsin: State Historical Society of Wisconsin, 1986. (Family History Library book

Another guide to the collections at the Wisconsin Historical Society is:


 * Smith, Alice E., ed. Guide to the Manuscripts of the Wisconsin Historical Society. Madison, Wisconsin: State Historical Society of Wisconsin, 1944, 1957. (Family History Library book ; .) A second supplement was published in 1966 (not available at the Family History Library). These guides contain references to the papers of many families and businesses.

The Wisconsin Historical Society has an on-line Wisconsin Genealogy Index that indexes the pre-1907 vital records and other records. It is available at  http://www.wisconsinhistory.org/vitalrecords/

The pre-1907 vital records index lists births and deaths

The society houses collections of regional interest at area research centers. These centers often have census records; pre-1907 birth, marriage, and death records; probate records; tax records; school records; church records; naturalization records; and other local historical records.

Wisconsin Area Research Centers

In addition to the state historical society library in Madison, Wisconsin also has the following area research centers:



1. Wisconsin Historical Society Archive Reference 816 State Street Madison, WI 53706-1488 Telephone 608-264-6460 Internet: http://www.wisconsinhistory.org/research.asp askarchives@wisconsinhistory.org

Serves Sauk, Columbia, and Dane counties.

2. University of Wisconsin-La Crosse Eugene W. Murphy Library 1631 West Pine Street La Crosse, WI 54601 Telephone: 608-785-8511 Internet: http://www.uwlax.edu/Murphylibrary/Departments/archome.html specoll@uwlax.edu

Serves Jackson, La Crosse, Monroe, Trempeleau, and Vernon counties.

3. University of Wisconsin-Platteville The SW Wisconsin Room Ullsvik Hall, 1 University Plaza Platteville, WI 53818 Telephone: 608-342-1719 Internet: http://www.uwplatt.edu/library/swwis/ swwis@uwplatt.edu

Serves Crawford, Grant, Green, Iowa, Lafayette, and Richland counties

4. University of Wisconsin-Whitewater Harold W. Anderson Library 800 West Main Street Whitewater, WI 53190 Telephone: 262-472-5520 Internet: http://library.uww.edu/archives/archicol.html archives@uww.edu

Serves Jefferson, Rock, and Walworth counties.

5. University of Wisconsin-Parkside Wyllie Library/Learning Center 900 Wood Road Box 2000 Kenosha, WI 53141-2000 Telephone: 414-595-2345 Internet: http://www.uwp.edu/departments/library/archives archives@uwp.edu

Serves Kenosha and Racine counties.

6. University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Archives Department UWM Libraries PO Box 604 2311 East Hartford Avenue Milwaukee, WI 53201 Telephone: 414-229-6980 Internet: http://www4.uwm.edu/libraries/arch askarch@uwm.edu

Serves Milwaukee, Sheboygan, Ozaukee, Washington, and Waukesha counties.

7. University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh Forrest R. Polk Library 800 Algoma Boulevard Oshkosh, WI 54901 Telephone: 920-424-0828 Internet: http://www.uwosh.edu/archives archives@uwosh.edu

Serves Dodge, Fond du Lac, Green Lake, Marquette, and Winnebago counties.

8. University of Wisconsin-Green Bay Cofrin Library Area Research Center (7th Floor) 2420 Nicolet Drive Green Bay, WI 54311-7001 Telephone: 920-465-2540   1-888-729-4611 Internet: http://www.uwgb.edu/library/spc speccoll@uwgb.edu    libraryweb@uwgb.edu

Serves Brown, Calumet, Door, Florence, Kewaunee, Manitowoc, Marinette, Menominee, Oconto, Outagamie, and Shawano counties.

9. University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point Area Research Center University Library 900 Reserve Street Stevens Point, WI 54481 Telephone: 715-346-2586 Internet: http://library.uwsp.edu/depts/archives/archives.htm archives@uwsp.edu

Serves Adams, Juneau, Langlade, Lincoln, Marathon, Portage,  Waupaca, Waushara, and Wood counties.

10. University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire Special Collections &amp; Archives (5022 5th floor) William D. McIntyre Library University Drive Eau Claire, WI 54702-5010 Telephone: 715-836-2739 Internet: http://www.uwec.edu/Library/archives/index.htm library.archives@uwec.edu

Serves Buffalo, Eau Claire, Chippewa, Rusk, Clark, and Taylor counties.

11. University of Wisconsin-Stout Swanson Learning Center - University Archives and Area Research Center University Library 315 Tenth Ave. Menomonie, WI 54751 Telephone: 715-232-2300 Internet: http://www.uwstout.edu/lib/archives/index.cfm archives@uwstout.edu

Serves Barron, Dunn, and Pepin counties.

12. University of Wisconsin-River Falls Area Research Center Chalmer Davee Library 120 Cascade Avenue - street address 410 South 3rd Street - maling address River Falls, WI 54022 Telephone: 715-425-3567 Internet: http://www.uwrf.edu/library/arc archives@uwrf.edu

Serves Burnett, Pierce, Polk, and St. Croix counties.

13. Superior Public Library Area Research Center 1530 Tower Avenue Superior, WI 54880 Telephone: 715-394-8860 Internet: http://www.ci.superior.wi.us/index.asp?nid=158 jenningsj@ci.superior.wi.us

Serves Douglas County.

14. Northern Great Lake Center Area Research Center 29270 County Highway G Ashland,  WI 54806 Telephone: 715-685-2647 Email:  whsnorthwoods@whs.wisc.edu

Serves Bayfield, Ashland, Iron, Vilas, Washburn, Sawyer, Price, Oneida, and Forest Counties

Note

The Family History Library has guides to the three Wisconsin area research centers at Green Bay, River Falls, and Stevens Point. These guides are listed in the Family History Library Catalog under WISCONSIN - ARCHIVES AND LIBRARIES.

National Archives
National Archives Great Lakes Region (Chicago) 7358 S. Pulaski Rd. Chicago, IL 60629-5898 Phone: (773)948-9001 Fax: (773)948-9050 E-mail: chicago.archives@nara.gov Internet: http://www.archives.gov/great-lakes

Wisconsin State Genealogical Society P.O. Box 5106, Madison, WI 53705-0106 E-mail: wsgs@wsgs.org Internet: http://www.wsgs.org

Milwaukee County Historical Society 910 North Third St. Milwaukee, WI 53203 Telephone: 414-273-8288

The society above houses Civil War and church records, obituaries and biographical newspaper clippings, naturalization indexes, census records, court and probate records, and coroners' inquests.

Vesterheim Genealogical Center 415 West Main St. Madison, WI 53703 Telephone: 608-255-2224

This center has records of many Norwegian-Americans, including passenger lists, church records, family records, and Norwegian local and farm histories.

Wisconsin State Old Cemetery Society c/o Robert Felber, Archivist 6100 W. Mequon Rd. Mequon, WI 53092-1951 Telephone: 414-355-6252

There are an estimated 8,500 cemeteries in Wisconsin. This society has compiled the records of about 2,000 cemeteries. They publish a newsletter in which you can place queries.

A guide to Wisconsin archives and libraries is:


 * Ryan, Carol W. Searching for Your Wisconsin Ancestors in the Wisconsin Libraries. Green Bay: C. W. Ryan, 1988. (Family History Library book 1988; film . .)

Inventories of County Archvies

To learn more about the history and record-keeping systems of Wisconsin counties, use the fifteen inventories of the county archives published about 1940 by the Historical Records Survey. This source contains detailed inventories of all the records which existed in the county courthouse in approximately the year 1940. It also describes the contents of the records. The Family History Library has copies of the inventories for Barron, Buffalo, LaCrosse, Marathon, Monroe, Rusk, and Sheboygan counties. They are listed in the catalog under WISCONSIN, [COUNTY] - ARCHIVES AND LIBRARIES - INVENTORIES.

Web Sites
You can find computerized research tips and information about ancestors from Wisconsin in a variety of sources at local, state, national, and international levels. The list of sources is growing rapidly. Most of the information is available at no cost. Addresses on the Internet change frequently. The following sites are important gateways linking you to many more sites:

USGenWeb

http://www.usgenweb.com/    All of the United States)

http://www.wigenweb.org/      (Wisconsin)

A cooperative effort by many volunteers to list genealogical databases, libraries, bulletin boards, and other resources available on the Internet for each county, state, and country.

USGenWeb Archives

http://files.usgwarchives.net/                 (All of the United States)

http://usgwarchives.net/wi/wifiles.htm     (Wisconsin)

"In June 1996, the USGenWeb Digital Library (USGenWeb Archives) was developed to present actual transcriptions of public domain records on the Internet. This huge undertaking is the cooperative effort of volunteers who either have electronically formatted files on census records, marriage bonds, wills, and other public documents, or are willing to transcribe this information to contribute." -- Site authors.

Roots-L

http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/roots-l/                       (All of the United States)

http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/roots-l/USA/wi.html     (Wisconsin)

A useful list of sites and resources. Includes a large, regularly-updated research coordination list.

RootsWeb

http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~websites/usa/index.html          (All of the United States)

http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~websites/usa/wisconsin.html    (Wisconsin)

"Rootsweb® is the oldest and largest free online community dedicated to family history. You'll find millions of members communicating on thousands of message boards in this expansive environment for learning, collaborating and sharing with others." -- Site authors. Operated by ancestry.com.

Linkpendium

http://www.linkpendium.com/genealogy/USA/              (All of the United States)

http://www.linkpendium.com/genealogy/USA/WI/         (Wisconsin)

"Linkpendium is being developed by Karen Isaacson and Brian (Wolf) Leverich, founders of the extremely popular RootsWeb genealogical community site. At the time of its merger with Ancestry in June 2000, RootsWeb had about 600,000 registered users, was serving about 100,000,000 Web page views monthly, and was delivering about 160,000,000 pieces of email monthly to the subscribers of its 18,000 mailing lists. The company had more than 40 employees and operated its own 7,000 square foot data center in Bakersfield, CA." -- Site authors.

US Gen Net

http://www.usgennet.org/socadmin/                          (All of the United States)

http://www.usgennet.org/socadmin/wi.html                (Wisconsin)

On-line Historical and Genealogical Societies

Cyndi's List

http://www.cyndislist.com/usa.htm        (All of the United States)

http://www.cyndislist.com/wi.htm          (Wisconsin)

List of Genealogy Sites on the Internet

Live Roots

http://www.liveroots.com/earth/united_states.html      (All of the United States)

http://www.liveroots.com/earth/wisconsin.html           (Wisconsin)

"Live Roots is a specialized search engine that assists you with locating genealogical resources, including both those that are accessible online and others which may require assistance from another researcher. The concept behind Live Roots was to build a search experience that bridges the gaps between independent genealogy web sites, large commercial ancestry repositories and many other printed family history materials yet to be digitized and published on the World Wide Web." -- Site authors

Access Genealogy

http://www.accessgenealogy.com/                          (All of the United States)

http://www.accessgenealogy.com/wisconsin/          (Wisconsin)

"From what started out as a simple set of 50 state pages, has blossomed into over 250,000 pages, and millions of records. This feat couldn't have been accomplished without the assistance Judy and I received over the years by countless volunteers. We are indebted to each of you for your assistance in making this project what it has become! Thank You!" ... "It's important for you to understand, though we are known for our Native American data, we actually have more data for the regular American researcher, then we do Native American." -- Site authors.

Family History 101

http://www.familyhistory101.com/                              (All of the United States)

http://www.familyhistory101.com/wisconsin.html         (Wisconsin)

"While I cannot provide detailed information on all sources available to family historians, Family History 101 covers the basic tools and provides essential instructions. My intention is to suggest some of the easiest ways to find, document, and preserve your family history. " -- Site authors.

Genea Search

http://www.geneasearch.com/                                               (All of the United States)

http://www.geneasearch.com/states/wisconsin.htm                 (Wisconsin)

" GeneaSearch has helped search for ancestors, build family trees and find family history with free genealogy lookups, free genealogy sites, family surname newsletters, data, books from genealogy societies and individuals, surname queries, female ancestors, beginner's genealogy guide since 1999. Other genealogy resources are links, lists of societies, and a variety of tools for online research.. See our state genealogy pages for free genealogy databases and genealogy resources for each state." -- Site Authors

D'Addezio.com

http://www.daddezio.com/records/room/                                (All of the United States)

http://www.daddezio.com/records/room/RR-WI-NDX.html        (Wisconsin)

"The mission of D'Addezio.com has been to provide a quality site containing original material, and valuable links to other information on the Internet, in a well-organized manner. The site has grown gradually, keeping the quality of our information as the highest priority." -- Site authors.

Olive Tree Genealogy

http://www.olivetreegenealogy.com/sitemap.shtml                               (All of the United States)

http://www.olivetreegenealogy.com/usa/Wisconsin.shtml                     (Wisconsin)

"Olive Tree Genealogy has more than 1,900 pages of free genealogy records to help you find your brick-wall ancestors and build your family tree." -- Site Authors

Genealogy Directory 

http://www.gendir.com/locales/230                      (All of the United States)

http://www.gendir.com/locales/313                       (Wisconsin)

A free genealogy site featuring a message board, a surname registry, lists of other genealogy sites, and region specific resources.

Records Project

http://recordsproject.com/                                         (All of the United States)

http://recordsproject.com/public/wisconsin.asp            (Wisconsin)

Links to state and county public records.

Kindred Trails

http://www.kindredtrails.com/databases.html                 (All of the United States)

ancestry.com Databases for Wisconsin                        (Wisconsin - Databases at ancestry.com)

http://www.wisconsinhistory.org/libraryarchives/             (Wisconsin - State Archives)

Regional Genealogy Databases, ancestry.com, National Archives, State Archives

ancestry.com $

[http://search.ancestry.com/search/default.aspx? http://search.ancestry.com/search/default.aspx?]                                  (All of the United States)

http://search.ancestry.com/Places/US/Wisconsin/Default.aspx              (Wisconsin)

ancestry.com Geographic genealogical source search page. Requires US Subscription.

Family Tree Connection / Genealogy Today $

http://www.familytreeconnection.com/search/                          (All of the United States)

http://data.genealogytoday.com/contents/Wisconsin.html         (Wisconsin)

"Your annual subscription gives you unlimited access to the Family Tree Connection database, along with discounts on all purchases in the Genealogy Today Store and any scanning services you request (of images in any of the FTC source documents)." -- Site Authors

FamilySearch™

http://www.familysearch.org/eng/default.asp

FamilySearch is a collection of computer files containing several million names. FamilySearch is a good place to begin your research. Some of the records come from compiled sources; some have been automated from original sources.

Wiki articles describing some Wisconsin library online collections are found at:


 * Wisconsin, Calumet County New Holstein Public Library Records (FamilySearch Historical Records)
 * Wisconsin, Fond du Lac Public Library Records (FamilySearch Historical Records)