Great Websites

Premium Websites, Free to Library Patrons!

Newspapers.com – World Collection

Newspapers.com is the online home of over 1 million pages of historical newspapers from the United States and beyond. Includes Santa Cruz newspapers.  Available in the Santa Cruz library branches. Or, using your library member # and PIN #, you can access this resource from your computer at home.

Heritage Quest
Search over 25,000 family and local history books, US Federal Census Records from 1790-1930 as well as genealogy and local history articles.   Purchased through funds donated by the Genealogical Society of Santa Cruz County.  Available in the Santa Cruz library branches. Or, using your library member # and PIN #, you can access this resource from your computer at home.

New England Historic Genealogy SocietyAmerican Ancestors
Access more than 2,400 searchable databases containing over 110 million names, including: The American Genealogist, Massachusetts Vital Records 1841-1910, The New England Historical and Genealogical Register, and Massachusetts Vital Records to 1850. Purchased through funds donated by the Genealogical Society of Santa Cruz County. –  Available at all branches of the Santa Cruz Public libraries!

Ancestry Library Edition
Unlock the story of you with sources like censuses, vital records, immigration records, family histories, military records, court and legal documents, directories, photos, maps, and more.   — Available at all branches of the Santa Cruz Public libraries!


Central Coast Websites

(click on underlined links to open websites)

The Ohlone Native Americans
The Ohlone people were the indigenous inhabitants of today’s Santa Cruz coastal area, prior to European contact.

UC Santa Cruz Digital Collection
The UCSC Library’s Digital Collections site holds a growing treasury of digitized photographs, maps, artwork, oral history transcripts, sound recordings, as well as “born digital” materials.

Santa Cruz County GenWeb
This site is maintained on behalf of the California USGenWeb project.

Santa Cruz County Wikipedia
A great starting point to learn all about Santa Cruz.

Santa Cruz Genealogical Society Facebook Page
See whats happening with our Society!

Researchers Anonymous
Researchers Anonymous program of the Santa Cruz Museum of Art & History (MAH) for people interested in the history of Santa Cruz County, California.

Santa Cruz Family History Center
A branch of the LDS Family History Library in Salt Lake City. It is open to the public, with many resources stored locally as well as access to the full range of materials in Salt Lake. Free access to Ancestry.com is provided.

Soquel Pioneers
Soquel Pioneers is a community organization that maintains a history room at the  Porter Memorial Library.  They also sponsors a picnic each July to commemorate the town’s history and its role in the development of Santa Cruz County.

Felton Homes and History

Felton Grove

San Lorenzo Valley Museaum

Capitola Historical Museum

Watsonville Public Library

Pajaro Valley Historical Association

Monterey County Genealogy Society
Our neighbor society on the central coast. News of meetings, publications, and a newsletter are among their online offerings.

Monterey County Historical Society
The Society is responsible for a massive collection of family, city and county archival materials. These rare and valuable documents are housed in a temperature and humidity controlled archival vault.

Santa Clara County Historical & Genealogical Society
Another neighbor society, affiliated with the Santa Clara City Public Library.

California State Library Genealogy Hub
Excellent resources for starting your California Genealogy research

Other Useful Genealogy Web Sites

Beyond Kin
The site is useful both for descendants of enslaved persons, and also for descendants of slaveholders who wish to document the close ties between their families and the enslaved persons associated with their families.

Genea-Musings
Welcome to my genealogy blog. Genea-Musings features genealogy research tips and techniques, genealogy news items and commentary, genealogy humor, San Diego genealogy society news, family history research and some family history stories from the keyboard of Randy Seaver (of Chula Vista CA), who thinks that Genealogy Research Is really FUN! Copyright (c) Randall J. Seaver, 2006-2024.

Cyndi’s List of Genealogy Sites
A comprehensive, categorized list of over 300,000 genealogical websites.

One-Step Webpages by Stephen P. Morse
Steve Morse developed tools for simplifying and enhancing the search capability for websites already posted by others. 

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