Genealogy & Local History

BCPL Resources

  • Ancestry Library Edition

    The largest online family history resource available, with access to both domestic and international records. The temporary home access period for this resource has ended; access is available inside the library only.

  • AtoZdatabases

    AtoZdatabases is a premier online reference and research tool providing instant, up-to-date information on US businesses and residents, including marketing and sales leads; mailing lists; employment opportunities; background searches; and profiles on companies, executives, and healthcare professionals. Plus, search historical addresses, locate lost friends and family, attend live training webinars, or send group e-mails for free with pre-designed templates.

  • HeritageQuest Online

    This comprehensive treasury contains unique American genealogical sources, local and family histories, convenient research guides, interactive census maps, and more.

  • Newspapers.com– World Collections

    Powered by Ancestry and distributed by ProQuest, Newspapers.com– World Collections provides online access to 4,000+ historical newspapers dating from the early 1700s into the 2000s. It includes well-known regional and state titles as well as small local newspapers from the United States and other countries. 

  • ProQuest Historical Newspapers: Louisville Courier-Journal

    For researchers seeking an authoritative, regional perspective on national and international events, as well as local perspectives on community news, the full-text, digitized pages of this newspaper (1830–2000) are a valuable resource in a variety of fields including history, political science, African-American studies, and genealogy.

  • Universal Class

    Learn skills for business and life! Universal Class offers more than 500 lifelong-learning courses covering everything from wellness and personal growth to homeschooling, parenting, hobbies, and finance. Many courses even offer continuing education units (CEUs).


Local History Rooms

Local history rooms are located at our Central and Lebanon Junction locations with the majority of our local history and genealogy archives and resources housed at Central Library. We have various materials in print, as well as microfilm and microfiche. Resources include birth, death, and marriage records; census and cemetery records; and newspapers and periodicals.

Equipment

The Local History Room at Central Library is equipped with a microfilm/-fiche reader and an overhead document scanner for easily scanning and copying documents, books, and other flat or bound media. Digitization equipment is also available for public use, including VHS to DVD.  A low-vision reader is located nearby in the Computer Lab.

Family Files

Our Family Files consist of information contributed by patrons and other genealogy researchers on different families in the Bullitt County area. The files are kept in the Local History Room at Central Library, with a smaller collection of files also available at the Lebanon Junction branch. Additional family files can be located at the Courthouse building in the Bullitt County History Museum.

Information & Local History Files

Newspaper clippings, pamphlets, maps, and other materials that provide information on Bullitt County history and other areas of interest. Files are located in the Local History Room at Central Library. Information and Local History Files Subject Index»


County, Regional, and State Information

Ancestral Trails Historical Society

Bullitt County Genealogical Society

Bullitt County History Museum

Bullitt County KYGenWeb Archives - Area cemetery transcriptions, land records, tax lists, and more. Hosted by US Gen Web.

The Bullitt Pioneer - Extracts and annotations from the microfilm of early Bullitt County newspapers 1901–1912.

Cemetery Database (Find a Grave) - International listing; includes Kentucky and Bullitt County.

Draper Manuscript Collection, 1740–1830 - Nearly 500 volumes of manuscripts, papers, and books collected by Lyman Copeland Draper about the history of the trans-Allegheny West, a region including the western areas of the Carolinas and Virginia, all the Ohio River Valley, and part of the upper Mississippi Valley from the 1740s to 1830. Several volumes of local interest are available in the Local History Room at Central Library.

The First American West - An online collection of letters, financial records, sermons, books, maps, and objects relating to the Ohio River Valley in the mid-1700s through the early 1800s, presented by the Filson Historical Society with support from the National Endowment for the Humanities. This collection is a reboot of "Ohio River Valley, 1750–1 820," the original  collaboration with the Library of Congress and the University of Chicago.

Kentuckiana Digital Library - Search over 550,000 digital images including historic newspapers, photographs, rare Kentuckiana imprints, Sanborn maps, and historic issues of the Daily Racing Form.

Kentuckiana Genealogy - Message board and other links.

Kentucky Vital Records - Resources from for collecting historical records from the Vital Statistics branch on Kentucky.gov as well as links to their recommended external sites.

Louisville Genealogical Society

Mount Washington Historical Society

 


Database and Link Collections

American Family Immigration History Ellis Island

Census Online

Cyndi's List of Genealogy Sites on the Internet

Daughters of the American Revolution Library

Ellis Island Records

FamilySearch - Research database provided by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Includes downloadable Research Helps by state, including a Kentucky Research Outline, a statewide index of collections, and more.

Genealogy Indexes, Records & Databases on the Internet

Library of Congress Local History and Genealogy Reading Room

National Archives and Records Administration - Look under Online Research Tools for Access to Archival Databases (AAD) or to search descriptions of the the National Archives' holding in the Archival Research Catalog (ARC). Get research help and access federal records including military service records, American Indian and Alaska Native records, and more.

Preservation Directory - Clearinghouse for historic preservation, preservation-based tourism, and downtown revitalization projects across the U.S. and Canada. Includes Preservation Events & Conferences; a Video Library with clips of restoration projects in progress, preservation walking tours, and endangered places; and listings and links for over 7000 history museums, 1000 downtown and main street groups, and 4500 historical societies in North America.

Roots Web - Genealogical data cooperative.

Social Security Death Index (Ancestry.com)

Vitalrec.com - Source for locating vital records online. Get applications and contact information for vital records offices. Searchable by state.