FamilySearch Affiliate Library
The Muskogee Public Library, located at 801 W. Okmulgee Ave., is an affiliate to the FamilySearch Library. You are able to access 40% more (400 million) images in our library than you can working from home. You can access them via our Wi-Fi or at one of our computers or laptops onsite. Extra images are only available from within the library. You must set up your own free account to access the records.
VISITING THE MUSKOGEE PUBLIC LIBRARY
Local History and Genealogy Department
There is handicapped parking available next to the building, a ramp to get on the sidewalk, automated-opening doors, and an elevator for your use. Library staff are also able to assist you from the parking lot to the building. Please call 918-683-6657 to request assistance.
You will enter the library on the south side of the building. You’ll pass the bathrooms and small glass room on the right, then turn right to enter the Local History and Genealogy Department where the Grant Foreman Collection is housed.
On occasion, if staff numbers are reduced, you may find the doors locked. The collection is still available for your use, so please contact a staff member to unlock the doors for you.
Microfiche readers, desktop computers, Chromebooks, and a large scanner are available for your use. If you need technology assistance, please contact a staff member.
In addition, the Muskogee Public Library has a Memory Lab provided by an ARP Humanities Grant for Libraries, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the American Library Association. There is equipment available in the Memory Lab are for transferring old film, slides, VHS movies, and audio tapes to digital files. There is no cost to the patron for using the Memory Lab, however the patron must provide their own DVD or jump drive to save their files. In addition, a reservation is required, and transferring movies and audios are done in real-time. See more information at eols.org/memory-lab.
Printing, scanning, copying, and faxing are available at all libraries in the EOLS system.
Fees include:
Black and white printing or copying: .15 cents per page
Color printing or copying: $1.00 per page
Scanning: FREE
Some libraries offer other services and sell items such as headphones, earbuds, DVDs, and jump drives. Ask a staff member for more information.
Preserving the Heritage of Our Communities
The Eastern Oklahoma Library System provides a number of free research resources online for all EOLS library card holders in all six counties served. In addition, the system offers a large collection of local and state records located in the Muskogee Public Library’s Grant Foreman Collection, which is open to the public during regular library hours.
Items in the collection include:
- Dawes enrollment cards and packets (1896-1914) for the Cherokee, Choctaw, Creek, Chickasaw, and Seminole Tribes. Tribal records of the Five Civilized Tribes
- Most early census and payrolls for the Five Civilized Tribes
- Guion Miller (Cherokee) enrollment applications (1906-1909)
- Indexes, soundex, microfilm, or online access to all surviving United States Census 1790-1940, including Oklahoma Indian Territory Census (1900-1940)
- Oklahoma Territory Census 1890
- Indian Pioneer Papers
- Muskogee County Newspapers, 1875-present
- Muskogee City Directories from 1903-present
- Muskogee County School Census, 1912-1936
- Muskogee County Court Records, including marriage, probate and guardianship, criminal and civil case files
- Muskogee funeral home and interment records
- Allotment maps and indexes for them for the Five Civilized Tribes
- Indexes available for obituaries published in the Muskogee Phoenix, early marriages, newspaper stories, and other sources.
ONLINE GENEALOGY RESOURCES
Genealogy/History
Access the Online Catalog, Get a Library Card via our App
Sign up for a temporary library card, search the catalog, reserve items, see upcoming events, and more, with the EOLS Library App, for IOS and Android.
Ancestry Library Edition
With 7 billion genealogical records from across the globe and millions of family trees, this is the world’s largest online family history resource. This resource can only be accessed in the library.
Dawes Rolls Online
Search the Dawes Rolls to trace your ancestry to one of the Five Tribes: Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Muscogee (Creek), and Seminole.
FamilySearch
FamilySearch Affiliate Library: The Muskogee Public Library is an affiliate to the FamilySearch Library. You are able to access 40% more (400 million) images in our library than you can working from home. You can access them onsite at the Muskogee Public Library.
fold3
Access historical military records, including stories, photos, and personal documents, using fold3 for free with your library card. At home? Log in with your library card number here.
Heritage Quest
Revolutionary War, Civil War, and US Congressional Serial Set, US Census reports, birth, death, and marriage records.
HistoryGeo.com
Covers 21 states and over 9 million records, including original landowners, antique maps and atlases. This resource can only be accessed in the library.
Oklahoma Digital Prairie
More than 100 years of history, including documents, photographs, newspapers, reports, pamphlets, posters, maps, high school yearbooks up to the 90s, and audio/visual content.
ProQuest Black Freedom Struggle in the United States
Website offers historical articles, pamphlets, diaries, and correspondence from time periods in U.S. history marked by the opposition African Americans have faced on the road to freedom.
Proquest History Vault
Digitized letters, papers, photographs, scrapbooks, diaries and more primary sources. At home? Log in here with your library card number.
The Gateway to Oklahoma History
The Oklahoma Historical Society has created a video full of tips and tricks to search for photographs, newspapers, maps, documents, books, and other resources on The Gateway. You can view the video here.
The Oklahoman Historical Archive and Current Collection
Research Oklahoma City history through The Oklahoman Collection from 1901 through current, including full newspaper pages, full-text articles and content only published online.
Voices of Oklahoma
Dedicated to the preservation of the oral history of Oklahoma, voices and stories of famous Oklahomans and ordinary citizens are captured forever in their own words in these far-ranging interviews.
Newspapers
Access the Online Catalog, Get a Library Card via our App
Sign up for a temporary library card, search the catalog, reserve items, see upcoming events, and more, with the EOLS Library App, for IOS and Android.
Fort Gibson Times
Searchable archives of Fort Gibson Times from 2009 to 2014, when the newspaper was discontinued by its parent company, the Muskogee Phoenix.
Grove Sun
Searchable archives of The Grove Sun from 2008 to present. The Grove Sun is a bi-weekly newspaper, publishing on Tuesdays and Fridays.
Muskogee Phoenix
Searchable archives of Muskogee Phoenix and Times-Democrat from 2004 to present.
NewsBank
This comprehensive news collection is ideal for exploring a specific event or wide variety of topics such as politics, business, health, sports, cultural activities and people.
NewspaperArchive
A collection of digitized newspapers from Oklahoma, the United States, and countries around the world, dating from 1607 to the present. At home? Log in here with your library card number and create your free account.
ProQuest Black Freedom Struggle in the United States
Website offers historical articles, pamphlets, diaries, and correspondence from time periods in U.S. history marked by the opposition African Americans have faced on the road to freedom.
Proquest Historic Newspapers
Historical archives of the Chicago Defender, Nashville Tennessean and The New York Times.
Tahlequah Daily Press
Searchable archives of the Tahlequah Daily Press from 2005 to present.
The Oklahoman Historical Archive and Current Collection
Research Oklahoma City history through The Oklahoman Collection from 1901 through current, including full newspaper pages, full-text articles and content only published online.
Tulsa World
Searchable archives of the Tulsa World newspaper from 1989 to present. Use it to explore a specific event or a wide variety of topics such as politics, business, health, sports, cultural activities and people.
MUSKOGEE COUNTY DEATH RECORDS 1910-16
These records are available courtesy of a man named Rex Campbell, who purchased the ledgers at an OKC thrift store in May of 2022. Mr. Campbell provided these scanned pages as a courtesy for patrons to use for research.
There are more 4,000 Death Certificates dated from Jan. 1, 1910 to Aug. 1916.
ASK A GENEALOGIST
Questions? Call our Genealogy Department at Muskogee Public Library!
SPECIAL LIBRARY COLLECTIONS
Special Library Collections
The Muskogee Public Library offers a specialized genealogy and local history collection. Published items include:
- Dawes enrollment cards and packets (1896-1914) for the Cherokee, Choctaw, Creek, Chickasaw, and Seminole Tribes. Tribal records of the Five Civilized Tribes
- Most early census and payrolls for the Five Civilized Tribes
- Guion Miller (Cherokee) enrollment applications (1906-1909)
- Indexes, soundex, microfilm or online access to all surviving United States Census 1790-1940, including Oklahoma Indian Territory Census (1900-1940)
- Oklahoma Territory Census 1890
- Indian Pioneer Papers
- Muskogee County Newspapers, 1875-present
- Muskogee City Directories from 1903-present
- Muskogee County School Census, 1912-1936
- Muskogee County Court Records, including marriage, probate and guardianship, criminal and civil case files
- Muskogee funeral home and interment records
- Allotment maps and indexes for them for the Five Civilized Tribes
- Indexes available for obituaries published in the Muskogee Phoenix, early marriages, newspaper stories, and other sources.
Stanley Tubbs Memorial Library in Sallisaw, Oklahoma, has a special project exploring the history of football in Sallisaw. Visit eols.org/sallisaw-football for photographs and video interviews of former players and coaches.
MORE HELPFUL RESOURCES
Local History
Muskogee County Genealogical Society – Genealogy and family history research for Muskogee County and Oklahoma.
Oklahoma Historical Society Research Library – Search census, marriage, divorce, prison, and death records.
Oklahoma State Archives – Collection of Oklahoma Confederate Pension applications including the form and correspondence.
Oklahoma Digital Prairie – Unique digital content spanning more than 100 years of rich, vibrant history from our State. Includes documents, photographs, newspapers, posters, maps and more.
Oklahoma Indian Pioneer Papers – Oral interviews conducted by the WPA with pioneers from all ethnic groups across Oklahoma. Headed by Grant Foreman of Muskogee and headquartered in Muskogee. Also available on microfilm at the Muskogee Library.
Chronicles of Oklahoma – The publication of the Oklahoma Historical Society. Also available at the Muskogee Library.
Muskogee Greenhill Cemetery – Established in the early 1900s, earlier graves were also moved to this location from the original city cemetery.
Explore local history books online
The Formation of the State of Oklahoma 1803-1906 (1917) by Roy Gittinger
Oklahoma: A Guide to the Sooner State (1941) from the WPA
Oklahoma Red Book Volume I (1912) compiled by W.B. Richards
Oklahoma Red Book Volume II (1912) compiled by W.B. Richards
Oklahoma Illustrated (1894) by O.C. Seely
A History of Oklahoma (1908) by Joseph B. Thoburn and Isaac Mason Holcomb
Check out these great websites to discover family connections as well as the stories of Green Country’s people, places and events.
General Resources
Chronicling America – Select digital access to American newspapers 1880-1910 including 27 newspapers from Oklahoma.
Find A Grave – Directory of the locations of graves for over 2.5 million memorials. Browse by name and locations. Includes photographs of many of the graves.
American Indian
Oklahoma Historical Society: American Indian Ancestry – Includes Dawes Rolls and allotment records and allotment maps for Muscogee Creek.
American Indian Records @ National Archives – Documents created by Federal agencies in the course of their daily business.
Military
Oklahoma War Memorial Collection – Covers World War I to the Korean War
Veterans Nationwide Gravesite Locator – Search for burial locations of veterans in VA National and state cemeteries. Fort Gibson National Cemetery is located in Muskogee County and was the only National Cemetery in Oklahoma for many years. Fort Sill National Cemetery is now located near Lawton.
National Archives Military Records – Search for records pertaining to all US wars and branches of service.
Civil War Soldiers & Sailors System – Information on over 6 million soldiers, who served on both sides during the Civil War. Also includes information on battles, regiments, prisoners, and medals of honor.