PastPorts is the monthly publication of the History and Genealogy Department.
To subscribe, unsubscribe or change email addresses enter your email address in the box below - click on Subscribe, and follow the instructions.
The newsletters are available in PDF format. Adobe Reader, a free software program, is needed to view these files. If you do not have a copy on your computer, or you need a copy of the current version.
The "For the Records" articles have been indexed by topic.
March 2022 Historic African American Cemeteries of St. Louis: Father Dickson Cemetery
February 2021 Researching the records of slave-owning families
February 2020 Finding the last owner of an enslaved ancestor
February 2019 African American migration patterns can help reveal family origins
June 2018 Casting a wide net: Finding an African American family in the 1880 census by tracing the migrations of an entire community
February 2016 Researching free antebellum African American ancestors
February 2015 Using Ante-Bellum Southern Plantation records
February 2014 The Underground Railroad
February 2010 Researching African American Ancestors
March 2017 Hearth and Home English Taxation Records
April 2016 Northern English resources in History & Genealogy
November/December 2014 Fourteen steps to finding Scottish ancestors in the History and Genealogy Department
June 2011 Discover your English ancestors at St. Louis County Library
June 2022 Parish Registers at the Library and Archives Canada
August 2019 Using secondary print sources for Québec research
July 2018 The Acadians, 18th-century Refugees
July 2010 French-Canadian research in the Special Collections Department
February 2013 Gatewood Gardens Cemetery
October 2010 More about St. Louis cemeteries
October 2009 Hallowed Grounds
February 2022 Getting Ready for the 1950 Census
April 2019 Searching the special schedules of the U. S. Federal Census
March 2016 No census records? No problem! Early tax rolls can fill in your research gaps
April 2014 Bridging the 1890 census gap
March 2012 Getting ready for the 1940 census step by step
April 2022 Records of the Diocese of Louisiana and the Floridas
August 2021 A brief history of the Evangelical Synod of North America
April 2021 German Methodists in St. Louis Elmbank Avenue and Memorial German Methodist Churches
August 2014 History of Salem German Methodist Episcopal Church, Ballwin, Missouri
November 2013 Lutheran marriage records not in St. Louis civil records
July 2013 United Church of Christ records
January 2011 Church records in genealogical research
September 2019 “Freely and without coercion”— Deed records under coverture
May 2016 Migration of Friends Using Quaker records to locate Colonial ancestors
December 2012 Sources for New England genealogical research
November 2010 Mayflower and Pilgrim research
June 2020 Using FamilySearch to research St. Louis ancestors
March 2018 Findmypast
November 2009 Beyond Ancestry—explore the variety of databases offered by St. Louis County Library
July/August 2022 More Than Just a Cause of Death: Finding and Using State-Issued Death Certificates for Genealogy Research
September 2016 Using St. Louis County coroner records
April 2011 Obtaining Missouri death records after 1960
March 2011 Funeral home records are rich sources of information
September 2021 French forts of North America
August 2020 French North American Research
October 2019 The Huguenots, 16th and 17th-century Religious Refugees
February 2018 Researching Alsace and Lorraine
August 2016 Etienne Cabet and La société icarienne (Icarian Society)
September 2015 The Kaskaskia Manuscripts: 18th-century civil records from the French Illinois Country
May 2013 St. Louis guardianship case files
July 2009 Researching orphans, orphanages, and adoption
December 2021/January 2022 Local history sources for German genealogical research: Hofgeschichten, Häusergeschichten and Bürgerbücher
November 2019 Discovering the ancestral village in German Immigrants in American Church Records
July 2019 St. Louis Germans and the Civil War in Missouri
November 2018 Using Ancestry for German genealogical research
February 2018 Researching Alsace and Lorraine
October 2017 St. Louis Freie Gemeinde
October 2016 German Methodism
July 2016 Austrian Exulanten in Franconia, Germany
June 2016 Finding your Ancestors in German Church Records
March 2015 German churches in St. Louis, 1830 – 1900
February 2011 Deutsches Geschlechterbuch is an essential genealogical source
August 2010 Ortssippenbücher and other locale–specific sources are rich in genealogical data
January 2010 Deciphering death notices in German newspapers
August 2009 Find German hometowns in the Special Collections Department
September 2022 History & Genealogy: Temporary Location and Services
August 2015 Rohrbach Collection expands research possibilities at St. Louis County Library
August 2011 What’s really “special” about the Special Collections Department?
December 2022/January 2023 Learning About Your Ancestors by Recreating Historical Garments
October 2022 Biére, Bier, Beer: The Early Beer History of St. Louis
November 2021 Rollin’ up the river
June/July 2021 St. Louis eats: An historical overview of food and food culture in St. Louis
October 2020 Yellow Fever: A nineteenth-century scourge
May 2020 From Survey 2675 to suburbia The history of the St. Louis County Library Headquarters property
March 2019 When did they wear that? Sources for researching fashion and clothing history
May 2018 The Old World encounters the New: European views on America
December 2017/January 2018 The St. Louis Cholera Epidemic of 1849
December 2015/January 2016 A History of St. Louis Railroads, 1847–2015
January 2014 St. Louis turns 250 in 2014
December 2013 The 1904 St. Louis World’s Fair
November/December 2020, January 2021 Irish Historic Towns Atlas
March 2020 Irish Catholic parish registers
December 2016/January 2017 Ordnance Survey Memoirs of Ireland
March 2010 Honoring one’s ancestors is an ancient Irish tradition
May 2017 Researching historic homes
December 2018/January 2019 French & Spanish Archives Part 1 | Finding evidence in the French and Spanish Archives
November 2022 Finding and Using St. Louis French and Spanish Land Records
June 2012 New books for land research
October 2021 The Papers of Sir William Johnson
February 2017 Heartman Manuscript Collection
April 2015 The John Dabney Shane Manuscript Collection
April 2013 Marriage & divorce in St. Louis PART 2: DIVORCE RECORDS
March 2013 Marriage & divorce in St. Louis PART 1: MARRIAGE RECORD
May 2021 Researching military air squadrons and air groups
October 2018 Civil War research brings ancestors to life
April 2018 Grand Army of the Republic
April 2017 World War I research
November 2016 World War II history
July 2013 The forgotten war: researching War of 1812 ancestry
November 2011 Draper Manuscripts offer clues about Revolutionary War ancestors
April 2010 Civil War St. Louis
August 18 Use multiple sources for incorporating sports history into family history projects
September 2017 Cover Your Basics City directory research strategies
November 2015 Finding your ancestors in the church records of Canton Bern
July 2014 Finding information about St. Louis business and industries
June 2014 Immigrants in St. Louis: An overview
March 2014 Mid-Century Modern genealogy: St. Louis research after 1940
September 2013 Missouri Penitentiary Records
December 2010 Using Partial Index to St. Louis Records
October 2013 Historical St. Louis newspapers offer interesting and colorful information about ancestors
May 2010 Historical newspapers provide important clues and insight to ancestors’ lives
May 2022 Writing Your Family History and Genealogy: Methods and Approaches
April 2020 National Preservation Week
August 2017 Researching family artifacts
December 2009 Start the new year fresh by organizing your family history research
November 2017 Rooting through regional periodicals
June 2017 Periodicals for researching national and ethnic groups
July 2012 A St. Louis miscellany—books for St. Louis history research on a variety of subjects
October 2011 Theses and dissertations offer unique sources of information
June 2010 Genealogical periodicals in the Special Collections Department
March 2021 Print resources are still valuable in a digital world
September 2018 Friend or Foe? Online Family Trees
January 2015 An approach to evaluating family histories and family trees
September 2020 Researching early Pennsylvania New Warrants
July 2020 Old Rights | Researching early Pennsylvania
December 2019/January 2020 Genealogy in Lincolnland
July 2017 Sources for St. Clair County, Illinois research
October 2015 Road, bridge, ferry, and mill records for North Carolina
August 2013 Researching Virginia
September 2010 Guides to research in states and counties
September 2009 Missouri’s Virginia connections
July 2015 St. Louis probate records
December 2011 Discover a wealth of information in wills and probate records