Research Databases

The Rosenberg Library subscribes to a number of databases containing resources that can support your historical research. All you need is a Rosenberg Library card to access most of these databases from home. Databases that are only available for in-library use are noted.

A full list of the library’s databases is available on the Rosenberg Library’s website.

Galveston and Texas history and genealogy resources are found in the following databases:

• Newspaper Archives (library card required) – The Daily News and other local newspaper archives, including many early Black Galveston newspapers.
• Fold3 Library Edition (library card required) - Military records from the American Revolution to recent wars
• Portal to Texas History – Galveston Tribune newspaper, Galveston City Directories (1859-1919), Kempner Papers, labor newspapers, Galveston Isle magazine, Texas newspapers, and other resources from across Texas
• FamilySearch.org (in-library only) – Searching from a Rosenberg Library computer provides access to approximately 400,000 restricted record sets that are only available at FamilySearch Affiliate Libraries
• Ancestry Library Edition (In-library only) – Search and save Ancestry.com resources for free at the library
• HeritageQuest (Proquest/Chadwyk - Healey) (library card required) – Census records, city directories, slave schedules, Indian rolls, and other resources
• Handbook of Texas – Texas State Historical Association’s encyclopedia of Texas history, including individuals, towns, events, and other topics
• Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps are also freely available through the University of Texas at Austin Perry-Castañeda Map Collection
• African American Heritage (Proquest/Chadwyck-Healey)
• Black Freedom Struggle in the United States (Proquest/Chadwyck-Healey)

For help using any of these resources, please contact an Archivist or call 409-763-8854 x126.