Library Overview
The American-French Genealogical Society’s library has vast resources which include:
• More than 20,000 volumes of vital statistics, family genealogies, biographies, reference books, histories, and genealogical journals and publications of regional, national, and international scope
• The four series of the Drouin Genealogical Dictionaries of Canadian Marriages, which span the years from the beginning of Canada through 1935
• Computers which allow members to organize their family records, research records, and access such reference material as the Rhode Island Cemetery Transcription Project, Ancestry and PRDH
• AFGS’s own publications, such as our popular cook-books, local church records, books, maps, and charts
Library HIGHLIGHTS
AFGS Featured Collections
The Drouin Marriage Books are alphabetized by the groom’s surname and by the bride’s surname. The Drouin marriage books contain over 2 million marriages from the 1700s to about 1935. They are from French speaking areas of Canada. Each marriage record contains the marriage date, the marriage place, the name of the groom, the parents of the groom, the name of the bride and the parents of the bride. The books are in English. Once you have the marriage information you could look in the Drouin microfilm and see the actual record.
The “Hard to Find Drouin Marriages” films contain marriages that are not found in the Drouin” books. They are arranged alphabetically by the groom’s surname and given name and then by the surname and given name of the bride. These films, although not as commonly used as other reference materials in the library, provide alternative sources for those difficult to find ancestors. Formerly only available on film, this collection is now on the AFGS library computers in a digital format.
The Fabien File is an index of births, marriages, and deaths in Ontario, Quebec, and parts of Prince Edward Island. It is a two-part microfilm collection of 250,000 records covering the 17th century to the mid 1800’s. Part one covers Hull, Gatineau, Pontiac, Buckingham, La Petit Nation, Eastern Ontario and Northern Ontario. Part two covers families from Quebec and Prince Edward Island.
The Forget Files, the life’s work of Dr. Ulysses Forget, a noted French-Canadian genealogist from Rhode Island. These records include thousands of Franco-American marriages in Rhode Island. Most of Dr. Forget’s research has never been published and thus is not available to the general public.
The Loiselle Index contains the marriage records in Quebec, Madawaska County in New Brunswick, and Manchester and Hillsboro, New Hampshire, 1642-1963.
The Rivest File consists of marriage records for the Notarial Districts of Joliette, St-Jerome, Mont Laurier and Sorel—all in Quebec. It covers the 17th century to 1972. The index is arranged first by the surname of the bride. Under the surname of the bride, the index is arranged alphabetically by the surname of the groom. A section for anonymous names is located in the “A” section and is arranged alphabetically by the surname of the groom. This section includes all those marriage entries for which there is either no surname or no name for the bride. If either the bride or groom is widowed, the record of the marriage will indicate the name of the previous spouse. To find the name of the parents of a widow(er) it is necessary to find the indexed entry for the first marriage. If either parent of the bride or groom is deceased, this is indicated on the index.
Microfilm and CD Records
• Births, marriages, and deaths in Massachusetts to 1915, death index to 1971
• Birth, marriage, and death records of Vermont up to 1941
• Births and marriages of Rhode Island to 1905, deaths to 1955
• Births, marriages, and deaths of New Hampshire to 1900, and divorces to 1938
• Maine Marriage Index from 1892-1966 on CD-ROM
• Drouin microfilms of vital records which was used for the Drouin books. Over 2400 Drouin microfilms available
• 1880 US Census
• 1881 Canadian Census
• Microfilm rolls of Diocese de Lafayette Louisiane, Canada newspapers 1764-1862, and miscellaneous films including maps, Family genealogies, etc.
• Woonsocket, RI newspaper collection. Includes the Evening Reporter, the Evening Call and the Woonsocket Call covering the years 1874 to 2007.
