Local & Family History Services
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Digital Collections & Databases

available anywhere image1875 St. Joseph County Atlas Database link A searchable, browsable digital version of the 1875 Illustrated Historical Atlas of St. Joseph County, Indiana, including plat maps, biographies, and engravings.




available anywhere image1910 South Bend and Mishawaka Elks Convention Book Database link A searchable, browsable digital version of the 1910 Official Souvenir, 9th Annual Convention, Indiana State Association, B.P.O.E., South Bend, Indiana, featuring text and illustrations of people, businesses, and the community.



available anywhere imageca. 1910 South Bend YMCA Book Database link A searchable, browsable digital version of the ca. 1910 A Manhood Factory in the Center of South Bend's Greatest Industries, featuring textand illustrations of people, the YMCA, and the community.




available anywhere image1936 St. Joseph County Platbook Database link A searchable, browsable digital version of the 1936 Index Map of St. Joseph County, Indiana, showing all landowners in the unincorporated areas of the county at that time.




in the library imageAncestry Library Edition Database link How To Use (pdf)
This site presents comprehensive genealogy resources including federal and state census images, military records, immigration and passenger list records, indexes of vital statistics, and more.



library card imageThe Chicago Tribune (current) database link A searchable database of articles and pages from the Chicago Tribune, going back to 1985.





library card imageThe Chicago Tribune (historical) database link A searchable database of articles and pages from the Chicago Tribune, going back as far as the 1850s and continuing through 1985.





library card imageHeritage Quest Database link How to use (pdf)
This site features unique resources such as Revolutionary War pension files; Freedmen's Bank records; searchable genealogy and history books; and PERSI, The Periodical Source Index. It also includes many federal censuses.


in the library imageIndiana Genealogical Society database link More than 40 searchable databases related to Indiana history, including indexes to county, church, military, and school records.

Ask your SJCPL librarian to put in a user name and password to give you access to this site.


library card imageThe Chicago Tribune (current) database link How to Use (pdf)
Includes the past decade of newspaper articles from the Evansville Courier & Press, Ft. Wayne Journal-Gazette, the Gary Post-Tribune, the South Bend Tribune, and the South Bend Tribune Business Weekly.



in the library imageNew England Ancestors database link How to use (pdf)
From the New England Historic Genealogical Society, more than 250 databases of town, church, family Bible, vital, land, tax, and other records pertaining to New England as well as New York, Ireland, England, and eastern Canada.



in the library imageNewspaper Archive database link A searchable database and actual images of millions of American newspaper pages from many areas and time periods.





available anywhere imageThe New York Times (current) database link A searchable database of New York Times articles from 1981- present. (Only articles 1987 - present can be viewed at no cost.)





available anywhere imageThe Chicago Tribune (historical) database link A searchable database of New York Times articles from 1851-1980. (Only articles from 1851-1922 can be viewed at no cost.)






available anywhere imageObituary Index database link How to use (pdf)
An index to obituaries that appeared in the South Bend Tribune, from 1913 through the present, for people with ties to St. Joseph County.





library card imageDigital Sanborn Maps 1867 - 1970 Database link How to use (pdf)
View, navigate, print, and download historic birds'-eye view maps of Indiana.




in the library imageSouth Bend Tribune Online Archive database link A searchable database of full-text articles from the South Bend Tribune, going back to March 1998.
  • For better search results on the SBT archives, use 'and' between the search terms.



Subject Guides database link Genealogy resources selected by SJCPL librarians.






available anywhere imageService Notes Index database link An index to Service Notes printed in the South Bend Tribune during the World War II, Korean War, and Vietnam War eras.





library card imageTribune Business Weekly Database link
A searchable database of the weekly business publication of the South Bend Tribune back to 1992.

Click here to read the current edition.



available anywhere image
Available on any computer anywhere. Available on any computer with a valid St. Joseph County Public Library card
 Available at all branches of the St. Joseph County Public Library
Programs & Classes

  • Finding Your Ancestors Online (October 2006)

  • Limburger & Lace: Belgians in St. Joseph County (November 2006) Program Slides (pdf):

  • Genealogy 101: Beginning Family History Research (March 2007)

  • Journeys & Journals: Indiana Immigration & Writing Your Family History Memoirs (April 2007)

  • Genealogy 101 (August 2007)

  • All About Ancestry.com (November 2007)

  • So You Want to Join a Lineage Society? (March 2008)

  • Where Our Grandparents Walked: Finding Our Ancestral Homelands (May 2008)

  • Archives Alive! (October 2008)

  • Local & Family History Services Open House (October 2008)

  • Your Indian Ancestors: How to Research the Native Americans in Your Family Tree (April 2009)

  • American Stories: African American Life and Roots; the History Behind To Kill a Mockingbird (May 2010)