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The Missouri History Museum Library and Research Center holds a wealth of valuable family history material. The collections include published material, documents, and photographs and prints, focusing on the history of St. Louis, the state of Missouri up to 1900, and the 19th-century American West.

The Library and Research Center has many indexes, guides, and catalogs to help you with your genealogical research. (Please note that some are accessible online, and others are only available at the Library and Research Center.)

Perhaps the best starting point is the Genealogy and Local History Index, which is an ever-growing index to selected published material, documents, and photographs that contain valuable genealogical information.

The library collection holds a variety of published sources that can be valuable to genealogists, including family histories, county histories, genealogical and historical journals, company employee magazines and trade magazines, maps and atlases, scrapbooks, newspapers, business catalogs, and directories and gazetteers. Consult the following card files and catalogs to find out more about these sources:

The archives collection contains manuscript material including papers of individuals and families such as letters, diaries, and reminiscences; records of clubs, societies, businesses, and institutions, including minute books, account books, and correspondence; and records of some local government agencies, including court records, tax records, licences, and voter registrations. Consult the following catalogs and guides to find out more about these sources:
Visit the Digital Content page to view digitized items from the library, archives, and photographs and prints collections.