Libraries
Libraries (and librarians) are a wonderful resource for searchers. These include public libraries, school and university libraries, and genealogical libraries.
Search Note: Unless your information indicates otherwise, remember that you will be searching in libraries in the area where the adoption was finalized, or where birth parent families lived. If you do not live in this/these areas, research librarians, Search Angels, or members of local search and support groups may be able to help you with lookups.
What You Can Find City Directories (also Polk Directories) These provide a wealth of information for those who have a city location, occupation of birth parents and/or grandparents (information about maternal grandparents is especially important if birth parents were unmarried), or possibly last names. Directories list all employed people or college students in a household, their professions, employers (for some years), whether they were head of household or resident, whether they owned or rented, address and phone number. Directories can be found at public libraries.
Vital Records Many libraries carry records of marriages, births (in some cases), and deaths. These can also be found in newspaper archives (see below).
Newspaper Archives Information in newspaper archives may include legal notices of intended adoptions, and birth announcements for children not placed immediately after birth. Newspaper archives are usually available through public libraries.
Legal notices were generally published in small, specialized newspapers, rather than in large circulation dailies. These may include weekly papers that were specifically for legal notices. Ask your librarian for suggestions.
When searching for birth announcements, if you have an exact date of birth and feel certain you know the town or city, try starting with the date of birth and 6 months after. Birth announcements are not always published immediately. Information from the birth announcement could yield other family member names and places of residence.
Search and Reference Books Check your local library for books about adoption search. If you're trying to locate a particular orphanage or maternity home, look in your city or genealogicial library for a book called
"Adoption, Oprhanages, Maternity Homes: An Historical Directory", by Reg Niles. This is a 2-volume directory of all these institutions in all 50 states from the 1800s to 1981. Information includes addresses, year founded, years in operation, cross-references, antecedent (prior operating) agencies, founding agencies (such as private, state, or specific denominational), number of residents, what kind and ages of residents, and the purpose of the agency.
Yearbooks High school and college yearbooks can be found in city, school, and university libraries. If you have information about age, name (first, last, both), and/or location, yearbooks may be a way to locate the person directly or through a classmate.
Many libraries offer research services for school yearbooks. If you have a city, date of birth, and last name, a research librarian may be available to make copies of persons from various high school and college yearbooks meeting those criteria and send them to you.
Search note: Yearbooks can also be found through online resources.
New York City Searches: Birth Records Records of births in the five New York City Burroughs (Bronx, Queens, Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Staten Island) are available at the New York Public Library (Main Branch).
© Nancy S Ashe
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