Missouri Archives and Libraries

The following archives, libraries, and societies have collections or services to assist genealogical researchers:

Jefferson City and Columbia Area
Missouri State Archives 600 West Main Street Jefferson City, MO 65102 Telephone: 314-751-3280 Fax: 573-526-7333 Internet: http://www.sos.mo.gov/archives/

Hours: 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday and 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Thursday. Saturday hours are from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. Microfilm and published materials are available in the research room; records from the Archives' stacks should be requested in advance for use on Thursday evenings, Saturdays or holidays

The holdings of the Missouri State Archives date from 1770 and include: executive, legislative, and judicial records; records of state departments and agencies; land records; military records; state publications; photographic collections; county and municipal records on microfilm; and manuscript and reference collections.

Through the Missouri Digital Heritage Initiativebegun in 2007, the Missouri State Archives and the Missouri State Library, in partnership with the State Historical Society of Missouri, are assisting institutions across the state in digitizing their records and placing them online for easy access.

A list of county records on microfilm is available at the following link.

A helpful guide to the collection is A Guide to the Missouri State Archives (Jefferson City, Missouri: Missouri Secretary of State, 198-; not at Family History Library).

Missouri State Genealogical Association P.O. Box 833 Columbia, MO 65205-0833 Telephone: 816-747-9330 Internet: http://www.mosga.org

State Historical Society of Missouri 1020 Lowry Columbia, MO 65201-7298 Telephone: 573-882-7083 Fax: 573-884-4950 Internet: http://www.umsystem.edu/shs/index.shtml

You should also be aware that records kept at the state capitol were lost by fires in 1837 and 1911. Several counties in Missouri have also lost records due to fire, war, and other destruction.

Western Historical Manuscript Collection - Columbia 23 Ellis Library University of Missouri Columbia, Missouri 65201-5149 Telephone: 573-882-6028 Fax: 573-884-0345 Internet: http://whmc.umsystem.edu

Kansas City and Independence Area
Kansas City Public Library Heart of America Genealogical Society 311 East 12th Street Kansas City, MO 64106-2454 Telephone: 816-221-2685 Fax: 816-421-7484 Internet: http://www.kclibrary.org/

Mid-Continent Public Library Midwest Genealogy Center 3440 S. Lee's Summit Road Independence, MO 64055-1923 Telephone: 816-836-5200 Fax: 816-521-7253 Internet: http://www.mcpl.lib.mo.us

The Mid-Continent Public Library shares its genealogical materials through interlibrary loan.

To learn more about the history, record keeping, and available records of Missouri counties, use the 15 inventories of the county archives published by the Historical Records Survey around 1940. The Family History Library has copies of most of these inventories.

National Archives—Central Plains Region (Kansas City) 400 West Pershing Road Kansas City, MO 64108 Telephone: 816-268-8000 Internet: http://www.archives.gov/central-plains

St. Louis Area
St. Louis Public Library History and Genealogy Department 1301 Olive Street St. Louis, MO 63103-2389 Telephone: 314-241-2288 Fax: 314-539-0393 Internet: http://www.slpl.org/index.asp

For further information see George Gambrill, Genealogical Material and Local Histories in the St. Louis Public Library, Rev. ed. (St. Louis, Missouri: St. Louis Public Library, 1965; Family History Library book ; film items 7-8, 1965/66 catalog and 1971 supplement).

Missouri Historical Society Library and Research Center Jefferson Memorial Building 255 South Skinker Boulevard St. Louis, MO 63112-0040 Telephone: 314-746-4599 Fax: 314-746-4548 Internet: http://www.mohistory.org/content/LibraryAndResearch/LRCGeneralInfo.aspx

Mailing Address: Missouri Historical Society Library and Research Center P.O. Box 11940 St. Louis, MO 63112-0040

A helpful guide to the society's collection is Beverly D. Bishop and Janice L. Fox, A List of Manuscript Collections in the Archives of the Missouri Historical Society(St. Louis: Missouri Historical Society, 1982; Family History Library book ).

Web Sites
You can find computerized research tips and information about ancestors from Missouri 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/

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.

Roots-L


 * http://www.rootsweb.com/roots-l/usa/

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

FamilySearch™


 * http://www.familysearch.org/

The Family History Library and some Family History Centers have computers with FamilySearch™. 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.