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Genealogy & Local History
In Library Use Only – Search billions of genealogy documents from the United States and United Kingdom – including census, military, immigration, birth, and death records.
User Guide | Video Tutorial | More Help with Ancestry
User Guide | Video Tutorial | More Help with Ancestry
Search digitized Appleton history resources – including photographs, key events, directories, and more.
Search hundreds Full-text daily and weekly Wisconsin newspapers from 2005 to 60 days ago, plus newspapers from the 1800s and 1900s. Does not include Gannett published newspapers.
Video Overview
Video Overview
View select newspaper pages from 1777-1963 and find information about American newspapers published between 1690-present.
Chronicling America Help Center | Video Guide
Chronicling America Help Center | Video Guide
View a list of historic firsts in the City of Appleton.
View a timeline of important events in the City of Appleton’s history
A comprehensive guide to printed material about the Americas written in Europe before 1750.
Find billions of genealogical records, plus family trees, and other genealogy resources.
User Guide | Video Tutorial | More Help with Family Search
User Guide | Video Tutorial | More Help with Family Search
View videos on a variety of genealogy topics from our monthly Find Your Ancestors genealogy series. Visit our online calendar for upcoming presentations.
Access to military records, including the stories, photos and personal documents of those who served. The site also provides many non-military collections, including census, city directories, naturalization records, and more. Access to the site is available from home for Appleton Public Library cardholders only.
Video Tutorial | Fold3 Help Center | More Help with Fold3 Library Edition
Video Tutorial | Fold3 Help Center | More Help with Fold3 Library Edition
View digital library of local history including text, images, and links to other local history resources.
Join Local History Librarian, Katie Stilp, for our monthly genealogy series. View our online calendar to see upcoming programs.
Collection of genealogical and historical resources including U.S. federal censuses, cemetery records, city directories, military records, unique primary sources and books, local and family histories, and more for the U.S. and several worldwide locations. Strong complement to Ancestry Library Edition, which can only be used inside the library building.
Partial index to photos from books in the Don & Betty Jabas Appleton Collection, generally scenes from Appleton history. The photos may be viewed in the library or requested as photocopies. Photos are not available online.
Find local digitized Sanborn maps, photos, interviews, and more.
Historical newspapers archive from the 1700s – 2000s containing thousands of well-known regional, state, and small local newspapers in the United States and other countries.
Name index of Record of the pioneers of Outagamie County, Wisconsin by Elihu Spencer. Features biographical sketches and photos of many residents of settlements in Outagamie County in 1895.
Video Tutorial
Video Tutorial
Index covering more than five million names of persons who immigrated to North America between the late 1500s and mid 20th Century.
User Guide
User Guide
Name index to four plat books for Outagamie County: Plat Book of Outagamie County, WI (1889), Plat Book of Outagamie, WI (ca. 1927-1928), Standard Atlas of Outagamie County (1917), and Atlas of Outagamie County (1942). The index will link you to digitized maps hosted on the University of Wisconsin Digital Collections site.
Video Tutorial
Video Tutorial
Search within more than 9,000 digitized issues of The Post-Crescent between 1860-1972.
Search for articles from The Post-Crescent on important events to get the date and page number. You can retrieve the article from microfilm in the library or request we email you the article for free.
Full text-only articles of The Post-Crescent from 1999 to present day available through ProQuest.
Find photographs, maps, letters, diaries, oral histories, artifacts, and other historical resources from more than 200 Wisconsin libraries and museums.
Full-text only access to national and regional United States newspapers, including The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Newsday, Chicago Tribune, and more. Coverage varies by title, but includes present day and archives to the 1980s.
View local history resources including plat maps, city directories, historic building surveys, biographies, and more.
Video Tutorial
Video Tutorial
Firsthand recollections of U.S. military veterans who served from World War I through more recent conflicts and peacekeeping missions.
Grave registration information on over 500 Fox River area deceased veterans from the War of 1812 to World War I.
Find Wisconsin records including birth, marriage and death indexes, state censuses, wills and probate records, and more. Available only to Wisconsin residents.