Back in 1998, the book America’s Best Genealogy Resource Centers, by William Dollarhide and Ronald Bremer, listed the top ten Genealogy Resource Centers as:
- Family History Library, Salt Lake City UT
- National Archives I & II, Washington DC
- DAR Library, Washington DC
- Allen County Public Library, Fort Wayne IN
- Heritage Quest, Bountiful UT
- American Antiquarian Society Library, Worcester MA
- Library of Congress, Washington DC
- New York Public Library, NYC
- New England Historic Genealogical Society, Boston MA
- The Internet – World Wide Web
The 1998 book also listed the best resource centers in each state, in all some 600 resource centers in the U.S.
In early September 2025, publisher Leland Meitzler of Family Roots Publishing suggested to Dollarhide that a new edition of that book might be useful. He thought that a new updated list of Resource Centers should include Internet links for all facilities; plus adding genealogicl & historical societies with libraries to the list.
In response, Dollarhide immediately prepared a list of the top genealogy resources centers today. A whole new focus was established: Review each of the genealogy collections found at locations such as…
- Subscription Genealogy Websites
- National Archives / Library of Congress
- Genealogical / Historical Society Libraries
- State Archives / State Libraries
- City / County Public Libraries.
With that criteria in mind, here is my first proposed list for 2025. So far, a total of 19 National Genealogy Resource Centers. are candidates for the National list. The final ranking may be up to 20 sites and is subject to change, according to the response to this post… if anyone thinks of facilities that should added to this National list, please comment to this post. Please note that the National List is for a facility that has a large Internet presence, and has coverage for the entire United States.
- FamilySearch.org – Salt Lake City UT
- Ancestry.com – Lehi UT
- MyHeritage.com – Or Yehuda, Israel
- National Archives I & II (Washington DC)
- DAR Library (Washington DC)
- Library of Congress (Washington DC)
- Allen County Public Library (Ft Wayne IN)
- FindMyPast.com – London UK
- New York Public Library – NYC
- New York Genealogical & Biographical Society – NYC
- AmericanAncestors.org – NEHGS, Boston MA
- American Antiquarian Society – Worcester MA
- GenealogyBank.com – Naples FL
- Midwest Genealogy Center, Mid-Continent Library, Independence MO
- Family History Research Center (Clayton Library), Houston TX
- The Newberry, Chicago IL
- Wisconsin Historical Society – Madison WI
- Dallas Public Library – Dallas TX
- Sutro Library – San Francisco CA
- TBD
I still need information about a few more National Resource Centers, particularly, Boston Public Library, Los Angeles Public Library, Seattle Public Library, and possibly more. Details about each center’s Internet collections will include hyperlinks to unique databases and research guides. Leland says he wants to publish the new book as a printed softbound and PDF eBook bundle. I predict such a book will have upwards of 2,000 hyperlinks.
Thanks for tuning in…
-bill$hide