Genealogy Hub

Welcome! Start your research by:

Using the California State Library Genealogy Toolkit (helpful tips and useful links),
Consulting our catalog,
Using our Ask a Librarian feature, or
Visiting one of our reading rooms (listed below).

All California State Library reading rooms are free and open to the public.

Within the Witkin Law Library collection, you will find:

Within the Government Publications room, you will find California state government and U.S. federal government publications, which include:

Agency, commission, committee, and task force annual and special reports, directories, newsletters, maps, and other publications
Congressional and California state legislative directories
Licensing board reports and rosters
Congressional and California legislative hearings and indexes
Selected military registers, directories, histories, and periodicals
Letters and indexes to letters sent and received by the Bureau of Indian Affairs
U.S. patent and trademark indexes and database search training

Information Services, our General Collection Resources, contains:

Within the California History Room, you will find specialized genealogy resources, including:

Within the special collections of Sutro Library, you will find:

Telephone and city directories
Family and local histories
Vital, tax, voting, and property records
Military and business registries
Periodicals from surname associations and historical and genealogical societies
Surname and local history card files
Daughters of the American Revolution publications
Foreign language materials
Guides, handbooks, indexes, finding aids and other materials related to domestic and international research.