Skip to Main Content

Visiting the Genealogy Room at SLPL

Planning for Your Visit

The Genealogy Room, in conjunction with the St. Louis Room (local history) and Rare Books and Manuscripts, comprises the Special Collections Floor of the Central Library in the Downtown West neighborhood of St. Louis, MO. Located on the third floor of Central Library, each area addresses reference requests and provides research assistance in their respective subjects.

Genealogy Room librarians are here to encourage lifelong learning. We have a passion for teaching the skills necessary for each member of our community to pursue their own family history or research journey, and we are committed to this passion. While we develop and maintain a professional set of skills, we are not certified genealogists or private researchers. Genealogy Librarians do not provide extensive interpretive services or produce in depth genealogical research for individual patrons. We also do not accept payment for any of our services during or outside of regular library hours. Our responsibility is to teach you, the patron, how to navigate library resources and develop as a family history researcher.

For more information about the services that the Genealogy Room offers, please read the attached Scope of Practice document.

A library card is not required to utilize genealogical resources. Reference computers, microfilm readers and a copier are available on site. Prints and scans of relevant library materials can be made at no cost. This does not include personal or non-genealogical materials.

Holdings Summary

Notice: Some periodicals and microfilm/microfiche are stored offsite at our Compton Library holding facility. Advance notice is required prior to access to these materials.

  • Reference Databases (i.e. Ancestry, FamilySearch (affiliate site), Fold3, Newspapers.com, etc.)
  • Abstracts/transcripts of county records
  •  Census records
  •  Birth/marriage/death records
  •  Land records/plat books
  •  Passenger/naturalization records
  •  Military/conscription records
  •  Cemetery/burial records
  •  Family histories
  •  Heraldry/name origins
  •  County/local histories
  •  City directories/school yearbooks
  •  Gazetteers/atlases
  •  Newspapers
  •  Society quarterlies/newsletters