Family history · Free to use
The Record-Room Index
Free places to search for your family, gathered in one plain list. Every link here costs nothing to search (some ask you to make a free account). Paid sites are never listed as free. New sources will be added with each issue.
Types in this index: African American · All records · Books & directories · Cemeteries · Census · Directory · Federal records · Immigration · Land · Newspapers. Sources listed: 14. Last checked: October 27, 2026.
| Source | Type | What it holds | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| FamilySearch | All records | Billions of indexed records, digitized microfilm and a shared family tree, run by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. | Free with a free account |
| Chronicling America (Library of Congress) | Newspapers | Digitized historic American newspaper pages, searchable by word, state and date. | Free |
| National Archives: Genealogy | Federal records | The U.S. National Archives' starting point for census, military, immigration and land records. | Free to search |
| National Archives Catalog | Federal records | Search the National Archives' online catalog, including many digitized documents. | Free |
| National Archives: Census Records | Census | How to find and use U.S. federal census records. | Free guide |
| National Archives: Freedmen's Bureau Records | African American | Guide to Reconstruction-era Bureau records, a key source for African American family history. | Free guide |
| Statue of Liberty–Ellis Island Foundation | Immigration | Passenger records for arrivals through the Port of New York. | Free with a free account |
| BLM General Land Office Records | Land | Federal land patents (homestead and other land grants) issued by the U.S. government. | Free |
| Find a Grave | Cemeteries | Volunteer-built memorial pages and headstone photos for cemeteries worldwide. | Free |
| BillionGraves | Cemeteries | GPS-tagged headstone photos transcribed by volunteers. | Free to search |
| Internet Archive: Genealogy | Books & directories | Digitized county histories, family histories and city directories. | Free |
| Google News Archive | Newspapers | Scanned back issues of some newspapers, browsable by title. | Free |
| Portal to Texas History (UNT) | Newspapers | Texas newspapers, photographs, maps and documents from the University of North Texas Libraries. | Free |
| Cyndi's List | Directory | A long-running, categorized directory of genealogy links. | Free |
How the index is kept
Each link is opened and checked before it is printed. If a source starts charging, closes or moves, it is corrected or removed.
Know a free source we missed? Write to hello@firesidegazette.com.