I got this site off of another list. It is a great one! I did a simple search on my surnames and got many hits. I heartily recommend visiting the "National Union Catalog of Manuscript >>Collections," also known as NUCMC, at: >><http://lcweb.loc.gov/coll/nucmc/nucmc.html> >> >> The print version, which we librarians call "nuck-muck," has been a >>reference standby for years. I didn't know it was available online, and >>boy, did I print out reams of records from it. >> >> So why should you be interested in NUCMC? First of all, let me explain >>what a "union catalog" is. A union catalog is what you call the result >>(whether in print, microform, or online) of recording and describing the >>holdings of multiple libraries, archives, or similar repositories. For >>example, I worked in a public library that had a county-wide union list of >>periodicals, which enabled us to refer patrons to another local institution >>(college, university, historical society, etc.) if our library happened not >>to subscribe to a certain periodical (magazine, journal, etc.) and someone >>else did. >> >> Now, most of you know that the colleges, universities, historical >>societies, archives, and libraries across this country have all sorts of >>one-of-a-kind items, usually from people, places, and things that aren't >>there anymore. People who are deceased, companies that are defunct, >>charities that folded, and so on. Items such as: >> >>* family bibles >>* family papers >>* business records >>* church records >>* charity records >>* ethnic organization records >>* arts & cultural organization records >>* photographs >>* political and advocacy organization records >>* maps, posters, charts >>* architectural plans >>* letters, correspondence, diaries >> >> What NUCMC did was survey these repositories large and small--across the >>entire US--and publish the results in many, many large volumes, which are >>still available in libraries. And now NUCMC is online, meaning that you can >>do a search on your family names, place names, and institutions connected >>with the people you are researching. You can search the companies they >>worked for, the clubs, societies, and fraternal organizations they belonged >>to, the churches they attended, and so on. >> >> Now, there's *never* any guarantee that the records you seek were given to >>a proper repository instead of going in the furnace or dumpster, or that an >>ancestor left important papers, but try a simple search on your (US) >>hometown and see if you were familiar with half of the stuff that turns up. >>Then try a search on "_______ family" (your surname). Those with Anglo >>names will probably have the most success. >> >> I did an easy word search on "Buffalo, New York" and got over 500 hits, >>several of which told me that some religious charities' records are now held >>by an archive elsewhere in the state; that the papers of a few prominent >>Buffalo citizens are likewise in out-of-town repositories. ///////////////////////////////////////////