Research Databases

Search records, books, serials, and other historical records specific to African Americans to trace your genealogy or to do research.

Explore your New England ancestors' lives using American Ancestors' collection of 1.4 billion records from the United States, the British Isles, continental Europe, and beyond. Available only at Medina and Brunswick Libraries.

U. S. Census records; military records; court, land and probate records; vital and church records; directories; petitions for naturalization; passenger lists and more. Video Overview.       

Only available when using computers in MCDL locations or via MCDL Wi-Fi.

Created by Robert Hyde. Learn about the history of Medina Square.

Explore newspaper articles, diaries, correspondence and more, from periods in U.S. history marked by the opposition African Americans have faced on the road to freedom.

Explore 2,300 first-person accounts of slavery and 500 black-and-white photographs of former slaves.

Search the Medina Sentinel and historic newspapers from across the United States.

Search an index of basic facts about 6.3 million soldiers who served on both sides during the Civil War.

Enjoy photographs and manuscripts that illustrate the small-town appeal Medina, Ohio. Includes items from 1840 to 1960.

Find cemetery records and newspaper death notices for the following years: 1833, 1847-1848, 1850-1975. The Index lists citation information for local news stories, feature articles and reviews from the Cleveland Plain Dealer, Cleveland Magazine, Northern Ohio Live and Ohio Magazine.

Search and browse Medina County newspapers and company newsletters from 1830 to 1977. Save and print articles for your personal family and local history research. Free; no sign in required.

Search articles, images, and a timeline documenting Cleveland history.

Search for your relatives in records from around the world. Access 135 million restricted records by using FamilySearch at any MCDL location.

Search the premier database for British and Irish records. Available only at Medina Library.

A premier collection of historical U.S. military records that brings to life the details of America's military veterans with stories, photos, and personal documents.

Locate the U.S. Census, 1790-1930 (1850-60 Slave Census Schedules not included), a digitized collection of more than 25,000 family and local history books, records from the Revolutionary War era, Pension and Bounty-Land Warrant Application Files and Freedman's Bank Records (1865-1874).

Search 2,500+ ads published in U.S. newspapers between 1865 and 1920 by formerly enslaved people seeking information on loved ones after emancipation.

Selected full-text of 19th and 20th century local newspapers from the United States, with additional coverage of local newspapers from Canada, England, Ireland and Northern Ireland. Sign in with your MCDL library card number.

From automobiles to wedding gowns, this collection documents both the ordinary and extraordinary stories of Ohioans. Search the archives and museum databases for books, serials, pamphlets, maps, and newspapers.

View photos, newspapers, and manuscripts from collections across the state of Ohio.

PERSI is the premier subject index for genealogy and local history periodicals. Search more than more than 3 million citations to readily-available periodical sources.

This index covers obituaries, death notices, and probate notices from the Medina County Gazette and the Medina County Sentinel. It also includes obituaries and other resources indexed by more than 60 partner libraries across Ohio.

Features detailed maps at building level for more than 400 Ohio communities from 1868 to the 1960s. An excellent resource for local historians to locate and identify buildings and neighborhoods, urban historians to study the growth of towns and cities, and environmentalists concerned about impact of new developments.

Explore Medina County cemeteries.