Information on family history is located in:

• The Local Studies section
  
• The Family History section
  
• The First Floor Library

The Local Studies collection includes books about Leicestershire and Rutland towns and villages which may be useful for family history research. Books with a green spine label are available for loan.

Individual village and town histories are arranged in alphabetical order by place name. Information about villages is also contained in standard works such as Nichols’ History & Antiquities of Leicester and The Victoria County History for Leicestershire.

The library has a small selection of street directories, giving the names of householders and tradesmen in Leicester and Leicestershire in the 19th and 20th centuries. Some of these are available on microfiche, e.g. White’s Leicestershire & Rutland Directory for 1863 and Kelly’s Leicestershire & Rutland Directory for 1881.

Also of interest is Leicestershire Towns and Villages on microfiche, 1790 - 1846 and 1861 - 1892.
 

• Genealogical dictionaries.
• Bibliographies of books on family history.
• Information about websites.
• Contact addresses for family history societies, registry offices and record offices.
• Information about census records, parish registers and wills.
• Guides to using the Family Records Centre and the Public Record Office at Kew.
• Books on naval, air force and army records.
• Guides to occupational records.
• Information about religious records.
• Some Family History Society publications for Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire & Lincolnshire, including census indexes and some printed parish registers.
• A selection of family history stock relating to Leicestershire.
• Information on family history in Scotland, Ireland & Wales.
• American and Australian genealogical guides, including lists of settlers.
• Published genealogies, pedigrees and visitation records (mostly Harleian Society publications).

  The main section of the library also contains useful family history research material.
Collected biographies include:

• Who’s Who and Who was Who. This is also available online (free for library members) through our online Reference Room - click here for access
• Dictionary of National Biography: 60 volume printed set. This is also available online (free for library members) through our online Reference Room - click here for access
• Crockfords Clerical Directory
• Army List
• Navy List

English Local History Stock:

• Local history sources
• Town and village records
• Guides to terminology of old records
• Town and county histories
• Place Names series

Heraldry Collection:

• Guides to coats of arms

Peerage & Landed Gentry:

• Burke’s Peerage
• Burke’s Landed Gentry
• Debrett’s Peerage
• Set of Complete Peerage

• Leicestershire Census 1841 - 1901 (CD-ROM or microfiche)
• IGI - International Genealogical Index for British Isles (microfiche)
• Family Search - CD-ROM version of IGI (1993 edition & addendum to 1997)
• Ancestral File database (1997)
• Parish Registers - copies of registers from Leicester churches (microfiche)
• Soldiers Died in the Great War 1914 -1919 (CD-ROM)
• Army Roll of Honour - World War II (CD-ROM)
• English Parish Records: Lincolnshire, Leicestershire & Rutland 1538-1837 (CD-ROM)
• National Burial Index for England & Wales (CD-ROM)
• The Battle Abbey Roll (CD-ROM)

• East Midlands Ancestor
• Family History News & Digest
• Family Tree Magazine 
• Genealogists Magazine 
• Ancestors