Dallas Public Central Library

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Contact Information
E-mail: [mailto:genealogy@dallaslibrary.org genealogy@dallaslibrary.org]

J. Erik Jonsson Central Library Web Site

Address:


 * J. Erik Jonsson Central Library 8th floor 1515 Young Street Dallas, TX 75201

Telephone: 214-670-1433

Hours and holidays:


 * Monday 10 a.m. - 6 p.m. Tuesday 10 a.m. - 8 p.m. Wednesday 10 a.m. - 8 p.m. Thursday 10 p.m. - 8 p.m. Friday 10 a.m. - 6 p.m. Saturday 10 a.m. - 6 p.m. Sunday 1 p.m. - 5 p.m. The library is closed during major holidays.

Directions, maps, and public transportation:


 * Directions for autos from north, east, south, or west. Pay parking underground is located on the Wood Street side of the library. Wood Street is one-way eastbound. Use the first ramp for parking.
 * Dallas Public Central Library on MapQuest.
 * Getting to the Central Library via bus, or via train.

Internet sites and databases:


 * Dallas Public Library Internet site
 * Dallas Public Library catalog online, and in WorldCat.
 * Dallas Public Library Genealogy Section.

Collection Description
The Dallas Public Library has one of the largest genealogy collections in the South. It includes 111,700 volumes, 64,500 microfilms, 89,000 microfiche, and over 700 maps. This includes state and county marriage, probate, deed, and tax abstracts in book form, or microfilm of originals for some states. Federal censuses 1790-1930, printed indexes 1790-1850, Soundex indexes on microfilm (1880-1930). The Ancestry Library edition database is available only at the library, but Dallas Morning News Archive, America's Obituaries, Handbook of Texas, Heritage Quest Online, Texas Digital Sanborn Maps, and WorldCat can be used on home computers with a DPL library card number. The collection also includes military records from the Revolutionary War to World War II, Civil War regimental histories, statewide births, mariages, and deaths such as Massachusetts town records, and Charleston, SC, deaths 1821-1926, Filby's Passenger and Immigration Lists Index, NARA microfilmed passenger arrival lists 1820-1950s, Black Biographical Dictionaries 1790-1950, and local-state-regional naturalization indexes. The Dallas Genealogical Society has also contributed census mortality schedule transcripts for Dallas County 1850-1870, district court minutes 1846-1855, and an online list of Dallas County cemteries.

Tips
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Guides
{''Optional: Internet or guide books describing this collection for genealogists. ''}

Alternate Repositories
If you cannot visit or find a source at the , a similar source may be available at one of the following.

Overlapping Collections


 * Dallas Public Library's other 27 branches.
 * National Archives at Fort Worth letters, photos, maps, settlement history, American Indians, the Civil War, slavery, Chinese exclusion, repatriation, segregation, and World Wars I and II.

Similar Collections


 * Family History Library, Salt Lake City, Utah, holds 450 computers, 3,400 databases, 3.1 million microforms, 4,500 periodicals, 310,000 books of worldwide family and local histories, civil, church, immigration, ethnic, military, and records of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
 * Allen County Public Library, Fort Wayne, Indiana, premier periodical collection, genealogies, local histories, databases, military, censuses, directories, passenger lists, ethnic collections, and Canadians.
 * Library of Congress, Washington, DC, Local History and Genealogy Reading Room is part of the world's largest library including 50,000 genealogies, 100,000 local histories, manuscripts, microfilms, maps, newspapers, photographs, books, strong in North American, British Isles, and German sources
 * New England Historic Genealogical Society, Boston, national in scope. Over 100 million name database, of vital records, genealogies, journals, over 200,000 books, 100,000 microfilms, and over 20 million manuscripts with emphasis on New England and New York since the 1600s.
 * New York Public Library Genealogy Division has an outstanding collection of American history at national, state and local levels; international genealogy and heraldry in Roman alphabets; Dorot Jewish collection; photos; New York censuses, directories, and vital records.
 * Newberry Library, Chicago, genealogies, local histories, censuses, military, land, indexes, vital records, court, and tax records mostly from the Mississippi Valley, eastern seaboard, Canada, &amp; Britain.
 * Mid-Continent Public Library Midwest Genealogy Center, Independence, MO, national censuses/indexes, 80,000 family histories, 100,000 local histories, 565,000 microfilms, 7,000 maps, and newspapers.
 * National Archives I, Washington DC, census, pre-WWI military service and pensions, passenger lists, naturalizations, passports, federal bounty land, homesteads, bankruptcy, ethnic sources, prisons.

Neighboring Collections


 * Dallas County and District Clerks probate, family, civil, criminal, deeds, births, marriages, deaths.
 * Dallas Historical Society 3 million documents, 10,000 books on TX history, 30,000 photos.
 * Dallas County Pioneers Association preserving history of early settlers.
 * Texas Heritage Museum, Hill College, Hillsboro, outstanding Civil War collection.
 * Southern Methodist University history, biography, newspapers, ethnic studies, government papers.
 * Texas Baptist Historical Society histories of local congregations.
 * Fort Worth Public Library newspapers, obituaries, biographies, histories and genealogies of the Southwest. Focus is on Texas, the South, the Midwest, and the original thirteen states.
 * Repositories in surrounding counties:  Collin, Denton, Ellis, Johnson, Kaufman, Rockwall, and Tarrant.
 * Texas State Library and Archives Commission, Austin, federal censuses, vital statistics indexes, military indexes, county tax rolls, city directories, newspapers, voter registration, convicts.
 * Briscoe Center for American History (Univ. of Texas at Austin) rivals the State Library collection.
 * Clayton Library, Houston, censuses, military, passenger lists, periodicals, family histories, maps, Texas and Houston records, veritcal files, British vital records index, German, Canadian records.
 * Texas Historical Commission, Austin, 5,000 publications of which 3,000 are books, historical sites, cemeteries, oral history, heritage trails, city and county histories, military history and photos.
 * Texas DSHS Vital Statistics, Austin, births, deaths, marriages, divorces.
 * Repositories in other surrounding states: Arkansas, Louisiana, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and in Mexico: Chihuahua, Coahuila, Nuevo León, and Tamaulipas