Baltimore Maryland Inner Harbor Family History Center

The Inner Harbor Family History Center serves Baltimore's Inner Harbor, West Baltimore, and Northwest Baltimore. We are a computer-only center where you can access a computer to use online resources like FamilySearch; we don't have microfilm/microfiche readers. We have consultants available to help you remotely or in-person! Our services and resources are free of charge.

Center Contacts and Hours

 * Language:  English


 * Address:  900 W Madison Ave., Baltimore MD 21201


 * Location Map: Google Map


 * Phone or Text: 443-527-7618


 * E-mail:  [mailto:MD_BaltimoreInnerHarbor@familyhistorymail.org MD_BaltimoreInnerHarbor@familyhistorymail.org]


 * Open Hours:
 * It is 2022 and the Center is open by appointment. Please plan to observe the following COVID-19 precautions:
 * Rather than having open hours we will meet you by appointment. Please contact us 2-3 days or more before you wish to come in so that we have time to arrange staff to meet you. Weekday, weekend, and evening times are all possible.
 * Face coverings are currently optional, but would be required if a Baltimore city mask mandate is activated.
 * We sanitize all surfaces before and after each appointment.
 * A clear barrier is available to place between you and our staff if you need consultant assistance at the computer.
 * Please let us know if there are other precautions you need to visit safely.
 * We can also help you remotely over the phone or via video conferencing platforms. Note, however, that we cannot provide remote access to records that are restricted to viewing in a Family History Center.
 * SPECIAL CLOSURE NOTICE: The Center will be closed:
 * No upcoming special closures.


 * If the front door is locked when you arrive, ring the white oblong doorbell near the bright green "ring doorbell" sign.
 * Parking:
 * Pay-to-park on Madison; street parking is free after 6 PM Monday - Saturday, and all day Sunday.
 * Free parking in the church lot, east side of the church between the church and MLK Boulevard.
 * No parking in the lot on the west side of the church between the church and the office building. That lot belongs to the office building and unauthorized vehicles are towed aggressively.

Upcoming Events
2022 Family History Center Webinars

Help Us With Upcoming Webinars - How Have You Made Family History Fruitful at Home and in the Community?

You’re invited to share and present your ideas and experiences in the next two family history webinars. Please contact the Inner Harbor Family History Center if you’d like to share an experience in one or both of these webinars:

Sunday, August 28, 2022, 7:00 PM - Audience Participation Webinar: How I've Made Family History Fruitful and Joyful at Home

Webinar attendees will share how they've found family history happiness with any aspect of family history. This may include favorite, most memorable, most fun, or motivational personal experiences with building the tree, sleuthing out information, discovering photos or other memorabilia, building relationships with living family, solving mysteries, experiencing ancestors' heritage and culture, learning new skills, involving children in family history, etc.

Register for How I've Made Family History Fruitful and Joyful and Home

Sunday, November 6, 2022, 7:00 PM - Audience Participation Webinar: How I've Made Family History Fruitful in the Community

Webinar attendees will share ideas and experiences for using family history to benefit a neighborhood or community. This may include sharing family history with a friend, beautifying a cemetery, snapping gravestone photos for FindAGrave or BillionGraves, indexing or another type of transcription project, teaching a family history class, etc.

Register for How I've Made Family History Fruitful in the Community

1950 US Census Community Project

On April 1, 2022, the United States Census Bureau released the 1950 census to the public for the first time. Join thousands of volunteers as we all work together to provide a rich and detailed index of every person living in the United States in 1950. Starting with a computer-generated index provided by Ancestry, you can help ensure the index is complete and accurate by reviewing and improving what has been done through automation.

Become part of this historic, once-in-a-decade opportunity by joining the 1950 US Census Community Project today. Join 1950 US Census Community Project

RootsTech Connect 2022 took place on March 3–5, 2022. Millions of people participated around the globe. But it was still all about you and your family story. The live event is over but the learning is just beginning! Make sure to bookmark RootsTech.org, because hundreds of sessions about all aspects of family history will be up all year long to enjoy for free.

Center Resources
The Family History Center Portal maintenance and upgrades are complete and the Portal is back in service. Limited access collections (images restricted to viewing in a FHC) and premium partner websites are again available.

Databases and Software

 * FHC Portal  The Family History Center Portal gives free access in the center to premium family history websites that ordinarily charge for subscriptions. Some of the available sites are:
 * The 19th Century British Library Newspapers digital archive—. This fully searchable database of the British Library's newspaper holdings provides a complete run of 48 national and regional Victorian British newspapers for the 19th century from 1800 to 1900.
 * NewspaperArchive.com is the world's largest online newspaper archive. Discover fascinating news in archived newspapers hundreds of years old—including obituaries, birth announcements, sports articles, comics, and more.
 * Alexander Street Press, American Civil War—. Contains indexed, searchable information on over 4 million soldiers and thousands of battles, together with 15,000 photographs, and approximately 100,000 indexed pages of diaries, letters, and memoirs.
 * Ancestry.com—
 * MyHeritage—Library Edition—. Used by millions of people worldwide to help research family history, build a family tree, and add photos, historical records, and more.
 * Puzzilla—.  Find new research opportunities on descendant lines in Family Tree.

Hardware and Equipment

 * Four computers, printer, scanner. We are a computer-only center and have no microfilm/microfiche readers.
 * You are welcome to bring your own laptop or device in and use the Center's wifi.

Center Services
We can assist you in using FamilySearch. We are open by appointment, except during any holiday or special closures noted above.


 * We can assist FamilySearch users remotely (over the phone) and view your tree with you using FamilySearch's helper tool.

Some FamilySearch collections are only accessible at a Family History Center. If you have run into that issue you are welcome to use our computers to access these materials.

Resources in the Local Area

 * Maryland Center for History and Culture (formerly Maryland Historical Society) online resources.
 * Maryland State Archives
 * What research can you do at the State archives? Start here to find general Maryland research guides, topic specific guides such as for marriage records, a list of searchable collections and key indices at the Archives, and contact information for other information sources such as courts and libraries.
 * Baltimore City Archives
 * What research can you do at the City archives? Resources include many searchable records sets pertaining to people, property, events and groups.

Volunteer at the Center:
Please contact us if you are interested in volunteering to help others research their family history.