The Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Division of Art, Prints and Photographs: Print Collection, The New York Public Library. "Panorama de San Juan de Puerto-Rico." [detail]. The New York Public Library Digital Collections.
Your research on genealogía puertorriqueña (Puerto Rican genealogy) may take you to different Divisions and Research Libraries of The New York Public Library, and to collections farther afield. This page offers catalog links and selected resources. Click the images on this page to learn more about NYPL Research Libraries and Divisions that hold materials on Puerto Rico.
Searching the Catalog
Search materials across collections at The New York Public Library, including the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, the Lionel Pincus and Princess Firyal Map Division, the General Research Division, and the Irma and Paul Milstein Division of United States History, Local History and Genealogy.
Some potentially useful Library catalog searches, by subject (this is not an exhaustive list):
Recommended Databases
Ancestry Library Edition collection highlights include Puerto Rico, Civil Registrations, 1885-2001; Puerto Rico, Social and Population Schedules, 1935-1936 (English and Spanish); Puerto Rico, Registro Central de Esclavos, 1872 (in Spanish).
FamilySearch offers a variety of genealogical record collections including access to Puerto Rico records including birth, marriage, death, church records, and civil registration. For more information consult the FamilySearch research guide Puerto Rico Genealogy.
Indigenous Peoples of North America Over 50 archival collections documenting the Native American experience from institutions such as the Library of Congress, the Association on American Indian Archives, and the U.S. National Archive. Includes information and records about the Taino of Puerto Rico.
Newspapers and Periodicals
Hereditas : revista de genealogía Puertorriqueña Semiannual magazine.
El coqui de ayer : the Puerto Rican Hispanic Genealogical Society newsletter. Includes articles about how to search Puerto Rican genealogy, research techniques, church archives, etc.
Newspapers.com collections include Gazeta de Puerto-Rico (in Spanish), for 1836-1902.
Latin American Newsstream provides full-text information in Spanish and Portuguese from 41 newspapers from Puerto Rico and 11 Latin American countries, including Mexico, Argentina, and Brazil.
Selected items from NYPL collections
From Library collections, genealogists can learn about historical lives and events in Puerto Rico. Please note: unless otherwise noted, these titles and their content are in Spanish:
Histories and memoirs:
- Hombres y mujeres en la historia de Añasco (Men and women in the history of Añasco) / Jaime A. Carrero Concepción.
- Report on significant individuals from the municipality on the west coast of Puerto Rico
- Report on the island & Diocese of Puerto Rico (1647) / by Diego de Torres y Vargas ; an annotated translation into English by Jaime R. Vidal ; with historical essays and commentary by Anthony M. Stevens-Arroyo.
- An annotated translation of the first history of Puerto Rico. Torres y Vargas was a descendant of Ponce de León
- Juan Ponce de León, el Adelantado -- : su entorno familiar y algunas proyecciones familiares en Puerto Rico (Juan Ponce de León, the Adelentado -- his family and speculations of his descendants in Puerto Rico) / David Enrique Cuesta y Camacho, Adolfo Perez Comas
- Biography and family genealogy of Juan Ponce de León
- La familia Ponce de León (The family of Ponce de León) / Alvaro Huerga
- Family history of Ponce de León and his descendants
- Historia de Cabo Rojo, Puerto rico, Barrio Guanajibo : patrón de asentamientos- primeras familias 1781-1799 (History of Cabo Rojo, Puerto Rico, Barrio Guanajibo: pattern of settlements - first families 1781-1799) / Antonio (MAO) Ramos y Ramírez de Arellano
- History of the municipality on the soutwest coast of the island, with information on early Spanish residents
- Buscando a Ramón Argüeso : encuentros vivos con mis antepasados (Looking for Ramón Argüeso: living encounters with my ancestors) / Luis Ramón González Argüeso.
- Memoir about family history and genealogy research
- La formación del pueblo puertorriqueño : la contribución de los vascongados, navarros y aragoneses (The formation of the Puerto Rican people: the contribution of the Basques, Navarre and Aragon) / Estela Cifre de Loubriel
- Spanish influence in Puerto Rico
Shared Collection Catalog
The Shared Collection is a joint initiative that combines the extensive research collections of The New York Public Library, Columbia University, Princeton University, and Harvard University—members of the Research Collections and Preservation Consortium (ReCAP)—in one catalog and allows patrons from all four institutions to search and request materials from these combined holdings for delivery to their home institution.
Through the catalog, users can discover nearly 11 million volumes from NYPL's research collections, plus an additional 8 million volumes from Columbia and Princeton. With the addition of Harvard's collections, users now have access to more than 22 million volumes.
Digital Collections
Search hundreds of thousands of pictures, maps, and historic texts from The New York Public Library. Below are a sampling of Puerto Rico-related digital collection items:
- Puerto Rican Slave Documents (Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture)
- Stereograph Collection, Puerto Rico
- Cuba and Porto Rico : with the other islands of the West Indies : their topography, climate, flora, products, industries, cities, people, political conditions, etc.
- Maps of North America - Puerto Rico