Family history eResources

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Ancestry Library Edition

Ancestry Library Edition has 1.5 billion names in over 4,000 databases used to assist family history research from the Australia, United Kingdom and all around the world.
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Find My Past

Findmypast provides access to archive collections from the United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, India and the United States to assist family history research.

Trove

TROVE

Trove is a new discovery experience focused on Australia and Australians. It supplements what search engines provide with reliable information from Australia's memory institutions.

17th and 18th Century Burney Collection Newspapers

With a State Library card
Burney Collection features the newspapers and news pamphlets gathered by the Reverend Charles Burney (1757 - 1817). These were published mostly in London, however there are also some English provincial, Irish and Scottish papers, and a few examples from the American colonies, Europe and India.
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17th and 18th century Nichols Newspaper Collection

With a State Library card
Nichols Newspaper Collection is housed in the Bodleian Library with newspapers from this period, such as Applebee's Original Weekly Journal Athenian Mercury Flying Post or Postmaster London Gazette Mist's Weekly Journal and The Tatler.
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19th Century U.S. Newspapers

With a State Library card
19th Century U.S. Newspapers database provides access to primary source newspaper content to historical events, daily life and 19th century American culture.
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Age of Exploration

With a State Library card
Age of Exploration Archive covers five centuries of journeys across the globe, scientific discoveries, the expansion of European colonialism, conflict over territories and trade routes, and decades-long search and rescue attempts in this multi-archive dedicated to the history of exploration.
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Ancestry Library Edition

Within the SLWA Building
Ancestry Library Edition has 1.5 billion names in over 4,000 databases used to assist family history research from the Australia, United Kingdom and all around the world.
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Australian Dictionary of Biography

Freely accessible to all
The Australian Dictionary of Biography contains biographical information on over 13,000 people. It is a useful source of historical information on notable Australians.
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British Library Newspapers

With a State Library card

British Library Newspapers delivers a wide range of national, regional, and local British and Irish newspapers.

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Discovery: National Archives (UK)

With a State Library card

Discovery is the National Archives of the United Kingdom's database of over 11 million historical government and public records. This interface provides access to some the digitised items of their collection including document, photographs, lists, posters and maps.

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Find My Past

Within the SLWA Building

Findmypast provides access to archive collections from the United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, India and the United States to assist family history research. It includes census records, passenger lists, births, marriages and deaths, court records, wills and more.

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First World War Portal

With a State Library card
The First World War Portal contains personal and printed material, military files, ephemera and artwork highlighting the experiences of soldiers, civilians and governments on both sides of the conflict coverings an array of perspectives, wartime propaganda and recruitment material.
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Frontier Life

With a State Library card
Frontier Life collection captures the lives, experiences and colonial encounters of people living at the edges of the English Empire from 1650-1920. Experience settlements across the various frontiers of North America, Africa, Australia and New Zealand.
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Gale NewsVault

With a State Library card

Gale NewsVault allows searching across a range of historical newspaper and periodical collections, such as 17th and 18th Century Burney Collection Newspapers, British Library Newspapers, 19th Century U.S. Newspapers, Illustrated London News 1842-2003, and Times Digital 1785-2010.

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Illustrated London News Historical Archive (1842-2003)

With a State Library card
The Illustrated London News provides marked a revolution in journalism and presented a vivid picture of British and world events from 1842 onwards with more than a 150 years searchable content of the world's first fully illustrated weekly newspaper.
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Internet Genealogy

With a State Library card
Internet Genealogy is a magazine that focuses on keeping today's family historian up-to-date with the vast and ever-growing collection of genealogy-related resources, software, tools, products, technologies and more.
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Irish Newspaper Archives

With a State Library card

The Irish Newspaper Archive contains over 6 million pages in over 500,000 issues of Irish Newspaper publications spanning back as far as 1763. The contents of all issues are fully text searchable and reflect the full context and layout of each page.

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Migration to New Worlds

With a State Library card
Migration to New Worlds collection provides a wide-ranging and in depth look at the emigration of peoples from Great Britain, mainland Europe and Asia during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries through personal accounts, shipping logs, convict records, and printed literature and papers.
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National Archives of Australia

Freely accessible to all
The National Archives of Australia collects, preserves and provides access to Government records. Many records are available online for professional research or personal interest.
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Oxford Dictionary of National Biography

With a State Library card

Dictionary of National Biography explores the lives of over 57,000 people who have shaped the British past over the last 2,400 years - from the Greek explorer Pytheas to Princess Diana, and from the founding fathers of America to the Nawabs of Bengal containing articles and portrait illustrations

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Storylines

Freely accessible to all

State Library's Storylines platform was developed to provide direct access to the significant Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander collections that we hold. Browse thousands of photographs, find your family and assist the State Library in identifying and returning this vital material.

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The National Library of Australia

Freely accessible to all
The National Library of Australia collects and preserves items of national significance. It holds the world's largest library collection relating to Australia and Australian people.
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Times Digital Archive 1785-2014

With a State Library card

Complete digital edition of The Times (London), searchable by keyword. Database includes all articles, advertisements and illustrations/photos.

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TROVE

Freely accessible to all

Trove is a new discovery experience focused on Australia and Australians. It supplements what search engines provide with reliable information from Australia's memory institutions.

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