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Libraries in the St. Louis Metropolitan Area

  • Belleville Public Library
    121 East Washington ; Belleville, IL
    Has East St. Louis city directories (There were active congregations in East St. Louis). Might be other records there.
  • Brodsky Library
    See Saul Brodsky Jewish Community Library.
  • Family History Center
    10445 Clayton Rd. ; St. Louis, MO 63131 ; 314.993.2328
    Has the largest collection of Jewish records in the world. All microfilms in the FamilySearch catalog can be ordered at the Family History Center (and through the Public Libraries).
  • Thomas Jefferson Library, University of Missouri — St. Louis
    8001 Natural Bridge Rd. ; St. Louis, MO 63121-4499 ; 314.516.5050
    Mercantile Library’s holdings are part of Thomas Jefferson Library. Extensive private papers, archival and early newspapers, local histories and genealogies (primarily through the nineteenth century), special collections focusing on railroads and inland waterways, materials on early Jewish settler Joseph Philipson including his daily business journal 1807-1809.
  • Jewish Genealogical Society Library
    Holdings are held in United Hebrew’s library. Please see our library page for a listing of materials available for research.
  • Mercantile Library,
    Thomas Jefferson Library Building ; 8001 Natural Bridge Rd. ; St. Louis, MO 63121-4499 ; 314-516-7240.Established in 1846 by civic leaders and philanthropists. It is the oldest library west of the Mississippi. Became part of the University of Missouri’s Thomas Jefferson Library in 199?.The Mercantile Library possesses several collections. The general core collection consists of over 210,000 books on Western Americana, history, world travel, exploration, the social sciences, history of the natural sciences and the history of technology. The Barriger Collection, focusing on American Railroad history
  • Missouri Historical Society, Library and Archive
    Skinker Blvd. ; St. Louis, MO ; 314.746.4500
    There is a daily on-site research fee for non-members. Referrals to a list of paid researchers provided upon request. Archival records and published works on St. Louis and Missouri history, Missouri county records and histories, St. Louis official records, private papers, and manuscripts through the nineteenth century, city censuses 1847-1866, nonpopulation federal census schedules for Missouri 1850-1880, old newspapers (microfilm and hard copy) in English and German, extensive accessible print and photo collection items, St. Louis maps, atlases, fire insurance maps, and privately published plat books.
    For Jewish research: many of the community history monographs cited above, several congregation jubilee books, papers of the Pioneers (Reform Jewish women’s group of the last quarter of the nineteenth century), twentieth century Yiddish newspapers.
  • Olin Library, Washington University
    Lindell and Skinker Blvds. Campus ; St. Louis, MO 63130 ; 314.889-5410
    Basic local and European histories, Yizkor (memorial) books, sizable Yiddish and Hebrew holdings.
  • St. Louis Center for Holocaust Studies, Federaton Kopolow Building
    12 Millstone Campus Dr. ; St. Louis, MO 63146 ; 314.432.0020
    A constituent agency of the Jewish Federation, taped oral history collection; may provide leads to local Holocaust survivors and resources.
  • St. Louis County Clark Family Branch
    1640 S. Lindbergh Blvd. ; St. Louis, MO 63131 ; 314.994.3300
    Genealogy material is in the Emerson History and Genealogy Center. Microfilmed marriage indexes, St. Louis and St. Louis County Probate records, Closed estate index, federal and state census, sizable Yizkor (memorial) books. Much more than mentioned here.
  • St. Louis Genealogical Society Library
    Housed and part of St. Louis County Library
  • St. Louis Jewish Archives, Federation Kopolow Building
    12 Millstone Campus Dr. ; St. Louis, MO 63146 ; 314.432.0020
    Located in the Saul Brodsky Jewish Community Library. Archives are open to researchers upon request during library hours but do not provide a research service for genealogical inquiries by mail. Continues to gather and preserve local Jewish community records, such as: microfilmed newspapers “Der Vortseher” and “The Jewish Record”, congregation jubilee books, minutebooks of Beth Hamedrosh Hadodol and Roumanische synagogues, partial typescripts of cemetery minutes and death registers, records of the Hebrew Benevolent Society (incorporated in 1847), records of the YMHA, the JCCA, and other benevolent and social organizations.
  • St. Louis Public Library
    1301 Olive St. ; St. Louis, MO 63103 ; 314.241.2288
    History and Genealogy Departmental holdings include city directories, early St. Louis maps, United States, out of state, Missouri and Jewish Genealogical publications, Defense Mapping Agency maps of Eastern Europe and 1:100,000 maps of Poland and Germany, congregation and Jewish community histories, “The Modern View”, Reform Jewish newspaper 1908-1943, extensive genealogical compilations for Missouri and states east of the Mississippi River, standard local and genealogical texts, and Jewish community monographs. Microfilm holdings include various states’ United States censuses and some indexes through the late nineteenth century, United States censuses of Missouri and all available indexes through 1920, ship passenger lists and indexes generally to 1890s, except New York index, which ends with 1846, military records of Missouri volunteers through Civil War (Union and Confederate), some later records of officers and enlisted men, early St. Louis newspapers, including “St. Louis Jewish Light”, “St. Louis Daily Record” (the paper of legal record since 1890), “St. Louis Countian, paper of legal record since 1902.
  • Saul Brodsky Jewish Community Library, Federation Kopolow Building
    12 Millstone Campus Dr. ; St. Louis, MO 63146 ; 314.432.0020
    The library houses more than 22,000 volumes of fiction and nonfiction. It also contains a comprehensive reference section and the St. Louis Jewish Community Archives. The library carries a variety of newspapers, periodicals, audiotapes, compact discs and large print novels, as well as a collection of liteature in Hebrew and Russian.
  • State Historical Society of Missouri
    1020 Lowry St.; Columbia MO 65201; 800.747.6366

Last modified: 21-Sep-2024 11:10