Durham Public Library


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Ancestry Library Edition

Ancestry® Library Edition delivers hundreds of millions of names from sources such as federal and U.S. censuses; birth, death, and marriage records including the Social Security Death Index; and U.S. border crossing and trans-ocean ship records. DPL's Ancestry.com library subscription is available for in-library use only. Please ask at the circulation desk if you need assistance.


Check out the DPL Heritage Room!

The Heritage Room at DPL is located just through the cafe and holds DPL's current collection of local historic resources including several newly inventoried collections like the Durham Paper Collection and the Town of Durham Annual Reports. We also hold other historic volumes including the State and Provincial Papers, Granite Monthly, local Town histories, local Yearbooks, several periodical collections and much more. The Heritage Room is open and available for public use during all open hour, unless it is previously booked. No food or drink is allowed in the Heritage Room and all resources are for in-library use only. 


Local Burial and Cemetery Records


State and Local Genealogy Resources

  • Durham Historical AssociationSince 1961, the Association has maintained a museum on the second floor of the old Town Hall that houses a growing collection of objects related to Durham, as well as archives of local and genealogical interest.
  • Genealogy Learning Center - Resources for beginners to genealogy and family history to learn the basics of research. Includes information on getting started and organized.
  • New Hampshire Statewide Genealogy - Statewide genealogical resource for vital records in New Hampshire history. Access City Directories here.
  • NH State Library History Collection - The New Hampshire State Library houses approximately 2400 titles of published family histories for New Hampshire and New England. 
  • Portsmouth Athenaeum - A historic non-profit membership library, Seacoast history research center, exhibit gallery and community events in the heart of Market Square, Portsmouth, NH.
  • UNH Digital Collections - Search the Dimond Library's archive of digitized historical material.

National Genealogy Resources

  • Family Search - Similar to ancestry.com but completely free to search and to create an account. More than 1.1 billion people are currently in these historical records and more than 1 million new images are digitized for use each day from the LDS Family Archives in Utah. 
  • Find A Grave - One of the most comprehensive sites for locating cemeteries and finding where our ancestors are buried.
  • Library of Congress The Library of Congress is the largest library in the world, with millions of books, recordings, photographs, newspapers, maps and manuscripts in its collections. The Library is the main research arm of the U.S. Congress and the home of the U.S. Copyright Office.
  • National Archives & Records Administration Genealogy Page - One of the largest collections of genealogy information in the U.S.
  • Online Military Indexes and Records - Links to online US military indexes and records listed by war.
  • USGenWeb - Over 3,000 linked county genealogical websites. Each country and state has different holdings, but they are specific to counties and states including photos, maps, transcriptions, historical documents, helpful links, and much more. 
  • Veterans History Project - A collections of historic U.S. military documents aimed to document U.S. military veterans.