What’s In The Library

see our video tour

Books and periodicals – Whether you have ancestors from the South, Mid-Atlantic, New England, Midwest, the West or California, you will find books, periodicals and resources to support your genealogy research. We also have holdings on Canada, the United Kingdom and other countries.

Read all about our New Acquisitions in the Blog. Download the list to see what we have.

City directories – CGS has a variety of city directories with an emphasis on directories of the San Francisco Bay Area.

6 Patron Computers, a book scanner, a microform scanner, and a large format scanner/printer/copier for patron use.

Gigabit Internet access and subscription websites – Bring your laptop or use one of our computers.

The CGS Library is a FamilySearch Affiliate Library so when you access FamilySearch from our network, whether using you own computer or one of ours, you’ll have access to many of the restricted image collections—those marked with FamilySearch Locked Image Iconin the FamilySearch catalog—that you can’t view at home.

CGS has library subscriptions to the following, accessible from any computer on our network while in the library, including your own using our WiFi network. Note: Use of our computers and access to subscription websites is free to Members. Non-Members must pay a daily use fee.

  • Ancestry.com Library Edition
  • Americanancestors.org (New England Historic Genealogical Society)
  • Fold3
  • HistoryGeo Bureau of Land Management Maps
  • Vitalsearch-Worldwide.com

Our computers also have handy links to:

  • FamilySearch
  • California Genealogy Links
  • Digital Public Library of America
  • Chronicling America (LoC Historical Newspapers)
  • Library of Congress Catalog
  • HathiTrust Digital Library
  • FamilySearch Digital Library
  • Internet Archive Books
  • Rootsweb
  • S.F. Genealogy
  • Old Fulton Postcards (Historical Newspapers)
  • Wikipedia’s Historical Newspaper Directory

Manuscript collection – Discover our unique manuscript collection which contains pedigree charts, letters and information that is available only at our library.

Vertical File – Dive into the treasure trove in our Vertical File collection of families and places. Search our on-line index which includes a synopsis of each file, providing information to help you determine if coming to the Library to examine the file would be beneficial to your research.

Microfilm/Microfiche holdings include records from Australia, Canada, England, France, Ireland, and many U.S. states. Search the catalog and after filling in your search terms and clicking “search” select “microform” in the “Formats” checkbox on the “results” page.

Newsletters from many other genealogical societies from around the country.

Large Pedigree Charts – The library has a substantial collection of large-format pedigree charts mostly made in the early years of the 20th century. They’re in the map drawers next to the classroom door. The link leading this paragraph is an all-surname index of the charts.

Alameda County Obituary Forms 1968 – 1977, an all-name index to three binders of obituary forms submitted to the San Leandro Morning News and the Alameda Star Times newspapers.

When you visit our library have you noticed something that is missing? What would you like to find at our library that would improve your visit? Are you aware of a book or other materials that you feel would be a good addition to our library? Please Leave us a Suggestion.